Plastic Reminiscences - A Notorious Case Study - Percussion Trio

My experience being a host and music director at the campus radio station offers me an up-close view of pop culture. This piece is a modern recollection of a Baroque dance suite, in which I blend classical music with contemporary dance forms (such as jazz, Latin, house, trance, etc.) and elements of Balinese gamelan, Hula music, and African interlocking rhythms. Living in these superficial times, this is my interpretation of what a dance suite would be today.

I. Prelude – Prenup. Prelude shows a hint of this piece, and it echoes in some cases in real life, the prenuptial agreement is the beginning or the end of a marriage.

II. Allemande – Annulment. Allemande borrowed the old allemande rhythmic pattern, and fuse with gamelan’s orchestrion principle. Between the A section and recap, a “techno-like” section is inserted.

III. Courante – Autopsy. Courante starts with a bossa nova pattern, with a fast courante melody above it played by glockenspiel. Throughout the development of this section, some “wrong notes” are gradually introduced, and it implies a beautiful yet lifeless corpse. The middle section uses the exact rhythm and structure of the first section of J.S. Bach’s English Suite VI Courante (1715-20), with newly composed atonal voices. In order to mimic the process of an autopsy, an outrageous combination of elegant atmosphere with fierce content is created. A pitchless C section is a contemporary interpretation of African interlocking rhythm. At the end of this movement, the final section returns to the Latin pattern, which represents the stitched corpse. Towards the end, a gamelan like theme echoed the previous movement’s characteristic.

 IV. Interlude – Alibi. Interlude foreshadowed the later movement. It is a slow and mostly quiet bridge, which is the evidence of the absence of suspect’s of the crime scene.

V. Sarabande – False Confession. Sarabande is written in rondo form and is inspired by the documentary Casting JonBenet (2017). It begins with a counterpunctual sarabande refrain—some of the episodes call back to fake memories by quoting a selection of highly representative Russian ballet music: Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker (1892), Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (1913), and Schnittke’s Peer Gynt (1993).

VI. Air – Polygraph. Air is the only movement that’s involved pre-recorded material. A polygraph scene is recreated by literally mimicking the heartbeat, the sound of a polygraph machine. The main theme is based on Movement IV Prelude’s chord progression. Both the artificial yet innocent “hula-like” passage fuse with a jazz improvisational transcription showcase a trail environment.

VII. Gigue – Filicide. Gigue starts with a lullaby, with the percussionist’s humming. The pitchless theme from the Third movement has brought back.

VIII. Epilogue – Right to Silence. A summary of the piece. Materials are from Movement I, II, VI with a soft and gentle manner.

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