Three Rhymes (2023)

for percussion duo

One morning in second grade music class, I invited my students to join me in a “beat dance”: a follow-the-leader game with rhythm sticks and a song with a loud dance beat. As the song faded out, a student shouted, “It rhymed!” In the absence of any lyrics or vocal line, this student had found rhymes in the simple rhythmic alignment of the music. This collection of rhymes presents similar moments of joyful satisfaction through the interaction, coincidence, and collision of rhythm and silence in different musical environments.

Scored for glass and wood, Rhyme 1 is visceral and harsh, simulating the inner workings of a well-oiled machine. Much of the piece is static, drawing extra attention to its occasional rhythmic interruptions. The middle section of the piece, far more empty and erratic than the opening, offers a brief respite before moving to an even more cacophonous, unrelenting final section.

Rhyme 2 focuses on the technical, employing nothing but coarse paintbrushes and paper. The interplay between the two performers becomes increasingly complex as the energy of the piece evolves from peaceful to frantic. The ever-changing movement of the paintbrushes in the performers’ hands also creates an entrancing visual effect, making this particular rhyme a multisensory experience.

Rhyme 3 creates a quasi-choral effect with the use of tuned whirly tubes. My practical and compositional backgrounds are both in choral music, so it is usually where I’m most comfortable. Here the performers make use of the harmonic series to build and alter chords in slow motion. The score is simple and gestural, requiring the performers to connect with each other in order to move the piece forward at their own pace.