The 90-Second Fanfare That Keeps Overshooting Its Cue
A student is composing a 90-second brass fanfare for a school ceremony. The brief fixes the climax at 1:00 (60 seconds in) and requires the piece to end by 1:30. The student's draft runs 108 seconds. Analysis of the draft shows: a 12-bar introduction at 72 bpm in 4/4 (40 seconds), a 16-bar development at 96 bpm in 4/4 (40 seconds), and a 10-bar coda at 60 bpm in 4/4 (40 seconds). The climax currently lands at the start of the coda, i.e. at 80 seconds. The student wants to keep every bar and every tempo. The teacher says the timing brief is non-negotiable and the climax must sit at 60 seconds.
1. Calculate where the climax would fall if the student simply cut the introduction to 8 bars while keeping all tempos and all other sections. Does this satisfy the brief? Show your working.
Read the worked answer
At 72 bpm in 4/4, one bar lasts 4 beats ÷ 72 beats per minute × 60 = 3.33 s. An 8-bar intro is therefore 8 × 3.33 = 26.7 s, a saving of 13.3 s from the original 40 s. The development stays at 40 s, so the climax (start of coda) moves from 80 s to 80 − 13.3 = 66.7 s. Total duration becomes 108 − 13.3 = 94.7 s, which fits the 90-second limit. So the cut fixes the total length but not the climax: 66.7 s is still 6.7 s late. The brief demands 60 s. This is the judgement the question tests: a change that satisfies one constraint (total duration) can leave another (climax placement) unmet, and you must check both separately rather than declaring victory after the first calculation.
2. Propose a revision that keeps all three original sections (intro, development, coda) and all three tempos, yet puts the climax at 60 s and ends by 90 s. Justify with bar counts and timings.
Read the worked answer
Work backwards from the climax. The climax sits at the start of the coda, so intro plus development must total 60 s. Keep the 16-bar development at 96 bpm: one bar = 4 ÷ 96 × 60 = 2.5 s, so 16 bars = 40 s. The intro must therefore be 20 s. At 72 bpm one bar is 3.33 s, and 20 ÷ 3.33 = 6 bars exactly. So a 6-bar introduction places the climax at 60 s. The coda at 60 bpm is 4 s per bar; to end by 90 s it has 30 s, i.e. 7.5 bars, so write 7 bars (28 s) ending at 88 s. Result: 6-bar intro (20 s) + 16-bar development (40 s) + 7-bar coda (28 s) = 88 s, climax at 60 s. Both constraints are met with all three sections and tempos intact. The reasoning pattern - fix the anchor event first, then distribute the remaining time - is what earns the marks.