September, 2022

A recording of my piece Seven Steps for alto saxophone and playback, featuring saxophonist Dylan Ward, was released in July on Neuma Records. The work was written specifically for Dylan, and we had a lot of fun collaborating on it! Check it out at Dylan’s bandcamp page or any streaming platform.

The piece was my most far-reaching experiment with polyrhythm and polymeter to date, and Dylan absolutely nailed it! I’ve made a score video to help those interested get an idea of the different rhythms involved (see below).

Concept/background:

Seven Steps is a concept piece based on the notion from Gnostic creation myth of the physical world as a skewed or imperfect reflection of the spiritual world. In a manner representing the emanation of the Aeons, each of the eight sections of the piece gives way to or "steps into" the next by means of a metric modulation -- the tempo established forms a numeric ratio with the previous tempo. A metrically constant "timekeeper" track runs through all eight sections, providing a constant pulse against which these increasingly complex ratios are perceived. The final step into the last section brings about a ratio of 64:63 of the timekeeper to the new tempo. This effect, combined with the return of the thematic material from the beginning (now a perfect fifth away and with a very similar but slightly off tempo), produces an "imperfect copy" of the original section. The original and its imperfect copy now play simultaneously in a kind of out-of-sync resonance.

Credits:

Dylan Ward - Alto saxophone

Kenneth Michael Florence - Guitars, piano/keyboards, programming

Dylan Ward's website: dylan-ward-saxophone.squarespace.com