The Language of Pilots explores a variety of different textures available from a minimal percussion setup (snare drum and hi-hat). One such texture is defined by rapidly switching the snares on and off. Another is signalled by glissandi, produced by pressing and dragging a stick against the drumhead. A third emphasizes continual timbral variations with the hi-hat. Each texture (there are ten in all) was composed independently of the others - derived from its own set of rhythmic principles, and evolving according to its own strategy.

In the finished work, these different textures are overlaid, and often appear simultaneously. In some instances the various rhythms and timbres interlock into a polyphony; in more dense situations, the different layers interfere with and deform one another. The music oscillates between simplicity and complexity as layers switch in and out, moving back and forth between a single texture and a multiplicity of different types. Structural markers help to orient the listener to the passage of time - a very slow polyrhythm is played on the bells of the two hi-hat cymbals, and a fixed sequence of timbres (with frequent rhythmic unisons between cymbals and drum) is repeated and expanded over the course of the work.

The Language of Pilots is dedicated to Christopher Froh.

Performances:
2008.06.20-21, 27-28: Triptych, Kenilworth Square East, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2007.02.15: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
2005.03.31: UWM, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2005.01.06: University of California-Davis, Davis, California
2004.10.14: Nuovi Spazi Musicali Festival, Rome, Italy
2004.10.10: Berkeley Arts Festival, Berkeley, California
Christopher Froh, percussion

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