Originally composed for the two trumpet sections to play from atop nearby buildings, this movement was designed to 1. properly introduce the beginning of the event in a jubilant, general-audience manner and 2. “teach/introduce” the concept of Distance Music through a demonstration within the music.
A shared, constant quarter note repeating an open Perfect 5th interval from two train horns located side by side in the middle of the lake open the piece. The surrounding brass groups develop the idea of the perfect 5th into an antiphonal fanfare during which the swan boats move apart, continuing to play on the beat. From the audience’s perspective, the open 5th dyad from the boats will gradually split into two separated notes outlining the interval; the farther apart the boats become, the more time develops between the two notes. This experience teaches the watching and listening audience the scientific principle primary to Distance Music: that sounds coming from more distant sources take longer to arrive.
By the end of the Fanfare, boats reach their primary positions at the end of the fanfare, all seven of which are spaced on the intersects of three sets of virtual concentric circles. The largest set of circles are spaced at intervals of 141ft from east to west that begin and end with a point near the walking path. Two other radii are centered near the walking path. All four of these points are identified with large signs.