Exploring "Pulse Magnet": Part 3

In my two previous posts in this series (which can be found here and here), I discussed strategies to bring out the disjuncture between rhythmic groupings in the way that you hear them and the way they fall on the page. I've been thinking about this in relation to the opening bars of the third movement of "Pulse Magnet", a modern classical composition by Matthew Hindson. My last arrangement was an attempt to follow where my ear was originally going, thinking that the piece was in 6/8. In the current arrangement I've just finished, I tried to be more true to the 6/4 metre that Hindson wrote the opening in, but at the same time I wanted to keep little hints of the 6/8 feel in there to bring out some tension.

I started the composition the same way as the last one, with solo piano, but this time I stuck to the 6/4, 6/4, 4/4 pattern that Hindson used:

In the second time through the opening repeated section, I immediately threw in the crotchet subdivision in the accompanying parts and tried to make it really sharp by just having quavers on the beat. I'm imagining that when I get my students to play this arrangement, the second time through bar 1, right there is where there will be some confused looks, maybe even a yell or two. Here's what it looks like:

After that I decided to bring out some more tension within the rhythmic framework. The right hand piano kept playing the ostinato, and the glockenspiel, tenor sax and clarinet joined the piano in rhythmic unison. If you were listening to those four parts only, you could be brought back to thinking in compound time. But then, the violin and horn play staccato quavers on the downbeats, bringing the piece back towards simple time and bringing out the tension. Just to make things even messier, I have the left hand piano and cello playing staccato quavers non-stop. Somehow I think it will work.

In the section after that I'm really sticking the knife into 6/4 and I have everyone except the cello and left hand piano playing dotted quaver subdivisions like this:

As in my last work, I have a contrasting section where the vibraphone plays an unusual ostinato that creates a cross rhythm with the piano part. I drew more closely from the actual vibraphone part in Hindson's work here, but I didn't stick to it exactly. My main purpose was to bring out the cross rhythm, rather than follow the letter of the law of his original work:

The final six bars is a total tension party, where I try to really bring out the crotchet feel, the dotted crotchet feel, and the different ostinato created by the vibraphone. I'm thinking my students may be very confused by the end of this exercise. But I'm hoping it will lead to some interesting conversations. More on that next time. You can check out the score and arrangements for "Explorations: Part 2" here.