The pieces "Wheatbelt" by Iain Grandage, and "Re-Inventions" by Elena Kats-Chernin, both bear strong aspects of pitch and rhythm. "Wheatbelt," written for SSAATBB in 2007, is an a capella vocal setting of Western Australia poet Kevin Gillam's poem of the same title. "Re-Inventions," written for recorder and string quartet in 2004, is based on 'Two-Part Inventions' of J.S. Bach. Both pieces reflect the endless opportunities of music through their simplistic nature and own individual sources of inspiration. .
Grandage's intentions for his piece "Wheatbelt" is to mimic the sounds of the Australian outback, and convey a sense of euphoria experienced when subject to the expansiveness of such an area. A prominent aspect of this piece is the use of the minor second, in which can be heard in the call of the butcher bird. Grandage employs various modes such as Phrygian, Dorian, and Mixolydian to emphasize the flattened second, as it weaves throughout the work. Such an interval is introduced at the beginning of the piece by the B and C harmonic whirlies (Quote 1), followed by a two-note motivic repetition of the words 'this land.' Throughout Wheatbelt, this distinctive interval is used in a variety of ways, such as rising and falling, in harmony at the interval of a fifth, oscillating back and forth between the two notes, and in combination with the B and C whirlies playing the two notes simultaneously. Thus Grandage illustrates the boundless opportunities music possesses through his exploitation of the first two notes in the octave. .
'Re-Inventions' by Elena Cats-Chernin reflects how the same material can be utilised in different ways to create new musical opportunities. Based on four motifs in Bach's 'Invention No. 8' in F major (Quote 2), Chernin applies various traditional and modern techniques to maintain interest within the work.
