Rules

Program Note

Rules draws on the idea of non-linear narrative and the unfinished working materials of Walt Whitman, including drafts, notes, editorial marks, and other traces of revision. The piece takes its point of departure from Whitman’s Rules for Composition, an early 1850s work in progress.

In the music, non-linear narrative becomes a way of shaping form. The piece uses aleatoric procedures to create a musical structure that reflects the unstable, generative, and exploratory nature of the creative process found in Whitman’s working drafts.

Performance Information

• Premiered by Kramer Milan, percussion, at the UNI School of Music Scholarship Benefit Concert on September 27, 2019.
• Presented by Kramer Milan at the CMS Central Chapter Regional Conference, online, March 26–27, 2021.

Recording