Parabeat

For Sax Quartet

Movement 1 – Machine

Movement 2 – Aperture

Movement 3 – Push

Parabeat is a sax quartet composed by Christopher Mesa. The instrumentation is for soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophone. This piece adapts percussion techniques for non-percussive instruments. Steve Reich’s Different Trains, for string quartet and tape, was a major influence–specifically his use of paradiddle rhythms between pitches as a substitute for drum stickings. I incorporated this technique in both the first and third movements, though not to the same extent as Reich. The name of this piece, Parabeat, is reflective of the paradiddle. Currently, the piece consists of three movements, but I composed it in a way that allows for additional movements to be added later. I am currently in the process of orchestrating this piece for different instrumentations such as string quartet, mallet quartets, etc.

MIDI Audio Demos

Machine – Movement 1

Aperture – Movement 2

Push – Movement 3

Live Performance (can be found in my Master’s Recital, however performance is not up to perfect quality)