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.

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.

Written for Hannah Moore and Cristian Zavala