Centre bridge

Centre bridge is a work for two shakuhachi and electronic sound, which was inspired by the sounds of traffic crossing a bridge across the Delaware River. After this, I wrote another, different, work inspired by the same bridge: Centre bridge (dark river).

Elizabeth Brown performs Centre Bridge on my CD Centre Bridge from Mode Records

Centre Bridge is one of several bridges that cross the Delaware River, connecting New Jersey and Pennsylvania. On the New Jersey side, it is located in the Borough of Stockton, and on the Pennsylvania side in Solebury Township. The surface of the bridge is a metal grating, and as cars move across it, they generate singing tones. The tones rise and fall in pitch depending on the speed of the cars. I love walking across this bridge, stopping in the middle to listen to the sound of the river flowing underneath while the cars go back and forth. I find the experience to be engrossing, and when I'm there I feel as if I am outside the normal world.

I realized that the experience was distinctly musical -- the counterpoint of the cars, their pitches, glissandi, and rhythms all perfect in themselves. The sounds of the cars reminded me of the sound of shakuhachi music, and thus I had the idea for this piece. I made several recordings of traffic going back and forth across the bridge, which I then transcribed, transposed, and embellished to create the two shakuhachi parts. I used the computer to process the sound of one of these recordings to create a more continuous electronic sound that could fill the role of the river.

The result is a piece that conveys something about my personal experience of the bridge. There is, for me, a certain sadness about it. Standing at the center of the bridge you're aware of so many dualities -- the two banks of the river, the two lanes of traffic going in opposite directions, the river and the bridge suspended above it. These all communicate by means of the bridge, but can never actually meet. The call out to each other, but must always remain separate.

An excerpt from Elizabeth Brown's recording of Centre Bridge: MP3

On Mode Records: Centre Bridge.