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.

Written for Hannah Moore and Cristian Zavala