I am intrigued by the hapax legomenon, a word that appears only once in a given work, author, or language. For a musical equivalent, I placed one F♯ against randomized 4-pitch diatonic arpeggios in C.

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A three-part palindromic round, modeled on everyone’s favorite mythical reptile, the hoop snake.

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I had forgotten about these, and rediscovered them while going through some old papers. Eight riddles are set diatonically, traveling through the circle of fifths. My notes said that I planned to double them with violin. That might be nice.

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In 2007, I was an artist in residence at NYC’s venerable downtown theater Dixon Place. I put together a program of musical curiosities, based on similar shows I’d done for the INFO FortFest and the Fortean Times UnConvention. The program included music by Rameau’s Nephew, Lewis Carroll, and the Count of Saint-Germain; an odd tune […]

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André Breton once said that he wasn’t interested in music, because he couldn’t imagine representing the world with sound. I do disagree; and find diatonic cluster drones as good a symbol as any. This organ piece is one example; here’s how it begins.

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This rather exuberant waltz was written for a performance with Bob Berky at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC) in 1985. Here’s the way it starts.

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“The Muscatel Suite,” three movements of it, often showed up in my shows in the ’80s. Here’s the beginning.

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I celebrate the New Year in a bilingual waltz. I had never written a song with French lyrics before; it was a pleasant exercise. I usually perform this song with a viola obbligato; it’s also been covered by one of my favorite bands, Les Chauds Lapins.

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My fifth string quartet is based on the “trowie tunes” of the Shetland Islands. I set them diatonically, embellishing them with scordatura, hocketing, harmonics, and other techniques. According to tradition, these tunes are to be played only once, out of respect for the trowies; the quartet is therefore brief.  

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I found this injunction in an old ukulele instruction book, and made it into buttons for my students. Don’t.

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