Performing with The Bang Group at The Yard

"PERFECT FOR... The Bang Group" by Dean Rosenthal for Solo Violin and Three Dancers by composer Dean Rosenthal.

For solo violin/The Bang Group: 

Perfect for ... The Bang Group is a piece about tiling, or, more specifically, a perfect tiling, length 60, of four evenly spaced points or notes. This means that the music is composed of 15 rhythmic motifs of four notes each at different speeds (or intervals) that fit together like puzzle pieces to fill a continuous rhythmic line with no gaps or rests 60 beats long. 

For example, the first tile enters as an eighth note F, followed by 15 beats of eighth rests, followed by another F, and so on, until four evenly spaced points (or notes) have been stated and separated by the correct number of rests. This completes one tile of four evenly spaced notes. As the additional 14 tiles are introduced, always with different intervals (or speeds), the melodic line slowly becomes filled in with notes replacing rests. The completed tiling is what is called a "perfect" tiling because it succeeds in covering all the points of the melodic line. 

The piece is dedicated to the French music theorist Jean-Paul Davalan who assisted me in my understanding of rhythmic tiling and who provided the solution to the question of whether or not there existed a perfect four note rhythmic tiling. Additionally, Pauline Kim Harris provided a very helpful suggestion that was much appreciated. Finally, David Parker envisioned even one more arrangement that I had not seen possible. This arrangement is dedicated to The Bang Group.

Dean Rosenthal
March 2011 (rev. 2012) 

Arrangement for The Bang Group, November 2015