Fife writes, “The Strife that Binds is about the inner turmoil that we all feel at some point in our lives. Hardship is no stranger to humanity, but everyone handles it in different ways. This work is about different ideas that are at odds with each other. This idea takes form in the shape of contrasting melodies. The opening melody is very pensive and somber. Where the contrasting melody is a simple and persistent tune that gets stuck in your ear. Twice in this piece these melodies get mashed together, and we get to hear what these contrasting melodies sound like when they are played simultaneously. In many ways this work is a metaphor for the political unrest in the United States right now.”

 

The interactive component of this piece comes in the form of an overdrive effect that makes the trumpet sound like an electric guitar. The ad-lib section includes a brief solo section that allowed me to experiment with some different sounds and create a solo that sounds like a 1980’s screaming guitar.

 

Using Ableton Live Suite to create the guitar effect gave Fife and I more flexibility to choose an appropriate effect, where a hardware guitar pedal can be more limited in terms of options. In a live performance using Ableton helps by simplifying the audio set-up into a single system for playing the fixed media, amplifying the trumpet, and applying the effects.