Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free

Brian Mark Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free for Solo Trombone+Digital Delay Processing Pedal

May, 2020

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free is a solo work for trombone and digital delay processing pedal that was written for Madison, WI based trombonist Cole Bartels and was created as a direct result of COVID-19. The title is a verse taken from Emma Lazarus’s iconic 1883 poem “The New Colossus,” which was a tribute to the symbolism of Lady Liberty and was written to raise funds for the statue’s pedestal. I started this work right after New York declared a state emergency due to the virus. I can view the Statue of Liberty from my Brooklyn apartment, and it was during this time that the whole situation regarding the pandemic came full circle as I was gazing out the window. I was immediately struck by the 11th verse of this poem, since there is a cruel twist of irony that is currently taking place in America. We are a nation of immigrants, yet it’s shocking that the previous administration had placed very strict laws on immigration since 2017, including the immediate suspension of other immigrants from April of 2020.

The landscape of New York citizens wearing masks in public, let alone those across the United States, was also a stark contrast from Lazarus’s plea to “breathe free.” Although the masks are required to prevent the infection of this respiratory disease, at the time of the onset of COVID I felt that we could be entering a new dystopian age where the freedom to breathe and prosper will be suppressed by major forces beyond our control. The mood on the streets in New York City felt very grim and ominous, yet at times hopeful, as these new “social distancing” laws have put its citizens through fear and uncertainty.

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free depicts the atmosphere felt by many concerned Americans during the height of the COVID pandemic, as it felt that our society was in fact “yearning to breathe free” from a socioeconomic, physical and psychological perspective. This piece was constructed as a ternary musical form with a duration of ten minutes, due to the inclusion of the delay pedal loops. I experimented with various techniques and textural ranges of this instrument, as the material contracting and expanding throughout the work symbolizes the poet’s metaphor from this particular verse. This piece also employs the use of music quotation, as the opening melodic material from America’s national anthem is echoed throughout as a warning to the masses. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free also metaphorically alludes to a possible apocalyptic type scenario of our current environment, as this particular brass instrument subtly implies the trumpets from the Book of Revelation (though both the trombone and trumpet are part of the brass family).

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free was recorded and mixed on May 7, 2020. The abstract video installation was finished on May 17, 2020, as it accompanies the surreal mood of the music composition. It is comprised of actual news and media footages from various American cities during this current pandemic, and was recently awarded one of the top ten prizes from Mozaik’s Philanthropy’s “Future Art Awards” Competition for works created in response to COVID-19. * Please note that a digital delay-processing pedal (indicated when pressing down with arrows over the first and last bar, respectively) is required for this work. The pedal should have a delay time of at least 2500 milliseconds or 2.5 seconds, as the feedback and delay time knobs should be set to around 70-75%. The tempo should be set at a constant quarter note/crotchet at 80-90 bpm. In addition, all fermatas over the empty bars are not traditional fermatas in the conventional sense. The bars with fermatas indicated should have a slight hold of a few seconds to let the loops materialize before going on to the next bar. The performer is free to vary tempo, duration of rests, etc., in order to give their own space and room for the phrases, with respect to working with the pedal. The pedal should be pressed on the last bar when 6075% of the loops fade out, therefore eventually clearing the loops to niente.

The New Colossus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus November 2, 1883

Solo Trombone

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commissioned by Cole Bartels

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free Brian Mark

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Brooklyn, NYC May, 2020