rewrite repeat

Instrumentation: Flute, Bb Clarinet (dbl. Bass Clarinet), Violin, Cello, Percussion: (Vibraphone, Woodblocks x4, Kick Drum) & Piano
Duration: 13 minutes
Year: 2026

Audio Excerpt

Program Notes

rewrite repeat was commissioned by the Graham Sommer Competition for Young Composers for Ensemble Paramirabo. Its title reflects two distinct aspects of
its creation: the literal reality of its composition process and the musical concept that drives the work itself.

The first meaning of the title stems from a creative crisis. Having invested months into composing an almost complete piece for the competition, I hit a wall. While the initial concept seemed interesting, the music felt directionless which is perhaps the worst feeling a composer can experience. Making the difficult decision to abandon the draft and restart, I found that the second attempt flowed with immediate clarity, as if a light had been switched on. The first draft’s material suffered from a problematic kind of ambiguity (even though some openness had been my initial goal) while the second draft replaced this with a sense of motion, direction, and ease. rewrite repeat is the result of this second effort.

Conceptually, the work is built on repeating cells of music that loop and cycle (as indicated by the bracketed numbers above the bars in the score). Each bar or bar
group exists as its own self-contained moment, which is then varied and repeated in different ways. The inspiration for this structural approach came one day while watching a livestream of multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier working with Logic. During his stream, Collier harmonized vocal snippets sent in by strangers from around the world. He took a brief fragment, looped it, and gradually layered rich, complex harmonies on top of it.

This looping method is parallel to the way I work within notation software, mirroring the modern reality of music-making via DAWs and software where one
listens to material in real time on repeat while adjusting on the fly. Writing this piece involved constantly listening and re-listening to isolated fragments to intuit
where the music should go. At its core, rewrite repeat is a commentary on the digital creative process, where repetition, revision, and comprehension unfold
together in real time. This is my first time utilizing repeating blocks as a foundational structural idea, a challenge that felt fresh and exciting to explore.