Black Tears is a Bb Cornet solo, accompanied by piano, with an audio recording (for the finale).
This piece of music was composed in April 2016 in memory of the 29 men who lost their lives in the Pike River Mine Disaster in 2010.
This work depicts the aftermath of the tragedy. After viewing tapes of the memorial service, TV coverage of the aftermath, reading articles about the tragedy and speaking to members of the NZ public about their reactions to the disaster, the composer depicts (from start to finish) the sombre and mournful reaction of the nation after 29 miners were trapped in the Pike River Mine, and then later lost their lives after a 2nd and 3rd explosion.
The piece of music finishes with an audio recording of rain drops in a puddle, recorded near the Pike River Mine on the 24th November 2011, exactly one year after the 2nd explosion that killed all 29 miners. The audio recording is started on the downbeat of the final bar. If timed correctly, after the soloist and pianist are cut off, there are 29 seconds of raindrops – one second for every miner that perished.
[This purchase comes with a compact disc with the raindrop recording]
