Red Light, Green Light

In contemporary music, there is a concept of experimental music called game piece, which puts the element of competition into music performance. Some composers even us game theory in economics as the concept behind their piece. But wait, would it be too much to talk about game theory to instrument beginners?

When I was thinking about games, I was thinking about is there any relaxing games that could be applied on a piece. When I was a kid, I used to play with my classmates in primary school some fast paced group games, for example, "The King of Rock Papers Scissors", "What’s the time, Mr. Fox?", "Tsunami" and etc. "Red Light, Green Light" was wone of the games. When I was researching about the piece, there were actually many versions of the game. I watched a video of the game on a 80s-90s kids show, which was a version of it with the concept of "Arriving the Raft". I actually forgot which version I played when I was a kid. Times change. The "Red Light, Green Light" I played was different from the one my parents played, I wonder if the rules have changed by children now? I wonder if children still play "Red Light, Green Light"?

This piece includes different basics in musical performances. It turns musical scale practices into a competitive game. If you practice enough, you would have an advantage in the game. This piece also require focus, to observe when does the traffic light changes their notes; this piece require improvisation and knowledge of musical intervals in order to perform the "Red Light, Green Light" chant in Cantonese; this piece require listening skills, in order to listen to which pitch your opponent is performing; this piece require speed, the faster your double-tonging speed, the more you reduce the time for your opponent to listen to your notes. To put it simple, if you practice your instrument basics enough, you will have an advantage. As you improve in your performance skills, you can add in different instrument techniques to make the piece more challenging and a more interesting effect.

Being "It" require more techniques than "Not being it". It is recommended for the student not to be it in the beginning. If the student want to be "it", the improvisation parts could be written in advance for the student to practice, or the instructor could go easy on the student by playing easier notes, losing intentionally etc.

"Red Light, Green Light" is originally not a one vs one game. It would be super fun if an ensemble version is made in the future!

The piece is never performed due to a series of unfortunate events.