Interlocket (Laptop)

This piece is conceived as an interplay between independent rhythmic fragments and allowing for the freedom of the performer to control when the different rhythmic devices change. Along the lines of process-oriented ("minimalist") pieces composed by such icons as Steve Reich, this work is marked by an evolving rhythmic and harmonic structures.

There are five main "voices" in the work: four separate rhythmic parts, each channeled to its own speaker in the quadrophonic sound field, and a fifth voice of "pad synth" drones that can independently inhabit any or all channels at once. The rhythmic structures of the four primary voices are metrically connected to prime integers, beginning with the number 3 (1 and 2 were skipped due to their relatively limited metric possibilities) - thus the four metric structures are 3, 5, 7, and 11 beats. As a means of deepening the connection between the voices, each of the channels uses pitch content stemming from its corresponding harmonic partial for each section of the work. To illustrate: the opening of the work has C as its fundamental tone. Following the harmonic series for C, this starts the "THREES" voice on the pitch G (the 3rd partial, or a Perfect 5th above the fundamental); the "FIVES" voice is on E (the Major 3rd); the "SEVENS" voice is on Bb; and the "ELEVENS" voice is on F. As the work evolves, the fundamental tone (and thus the pitch content) shifts to F, to A, to Bb, to Ab, and back to C. At times, each of the voices changes in content to include related pitch content - for example, adding the pitch a Perfect 5th away from the assigned harmonic partial.