'Force': A study of polyrhythm

This paper explores polyrhythmic techniques in my music and the music of others. The paper is organized into three chapters. Basic features of polyrhythmic music are established in chapter one through a brief analysis and comparison of Elliott Carter's first movement of String Quartet No. 1 and Michael Gordon's Yo Shakespeare. In chapter two some issues associated with polyrhythmic techniques are discussed: absolute rhythm and heterophony as found in the first movement of String Quartet No. 1 by Elliott Carter; additive rhythms and the importance of meter in Symphonies of Winds by Igor Stravinsky; and cyclic rhythm in Act I, Scene 1 from Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass. In chapter three attention turns to some polyrhythmic techniques in my recent pieces. By looking at two pieces in particular (Force for choir and instrumental ensemble, and Piano Music '98 for solo piano), it becomes clear how my compositional approach has incorporated techniques discussed in chapter two.