Black Tears is a solo for Bb instrument and Brass Band, with an audio recording (for the finale). This piece of music was composed in April 2016 in memory of the 29 men who lost their lives in the Pike River Mine Disaster in 2010. The phrase “Black Tears” refers to the tears that run down a miner’s coal-smudged face.

Originally written for Bb Cornet & Orchestra, this work depicts the aftermath of the tragedy. After viewing tapes of the memorial service, TV coverage of the aftermath, reading articles about the tragedy and speaking to members of the NZ public about their reactions to the disaster, the composer depicts (from start to finish) the sombre and mournful reaction of the nation after 29 miners were trapped in the Pike River Mine, and then later lost their lives after a 2nd and 3rd explosion. The piece of music finishes with an audio recording of raindrops in a puddle, recorded near the Pike River Mine on the 24th November 2011, exactly one year after the 2nd explosion that killed all 29 miners. The audio recording is started on the downbeat of the final bar. If timed correctly, after the soloist and band are cut off, there are 29 seconds of raindrops – one second for every miner that perished.

Black Tears is also taken from a short poem about the disaster that was written by the composer’s mother, depicting a miner accepting his fate that he would not make it out of the mine alive. The poem reads:

It is dark
All I feel is my pain and my tears
Black tears
Tears my mother wiped away as a child
Tears my Jesus will wipe away soon
My black tears.

Black Tears was premiered by cornet soloist Trevor Bremner and the Taranaki Youth Orchestra, conducted by the composer - Fraser Bremner, on May 5th 2018 in New Plymouth, New Zealand. Trevor also performed the brass band version with the 2019 National Secondary Schools Brass Band of New Zealand. This piece has also been performed by Belgian cornet soloist Harmen Vanhoorne and the Auckland Sinfonietta, with Rachel Thomas on vibraphone.