A Bicycle for the Mind

Concert Band

Level 3.5 (Medium)

Duration: 8:00

Now available for free download!

In 1990 Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs said that he had read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer. Humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing about a third of the way down the list….That didn’t look so good, but then someone at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle and a man on a bicycle blew the condor away. That’s what the computer was to Steve Jobs. The most remarkable tool that we’ve ever come up with. He said it’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds. The grade 3 work for concert band, “A Bicycle for the Mind” is the composer’s small tribute to Steve Jobs who believed that the arts were integral to technological innovation. The constant rhythmic pulse interlaced with a haunting chorale attempts to express Job’s ultimate goal of fusing the liberal arts with technology.