Palindromes

Even before I knew what they were called, I was obsessed with PALINDROMES. As a kid I could not stop seeing them everywhere or even just thinking about them. Sometimes it would make me physically ill to think about them. Often times while driving with one or both of my parents, I would look out the window and see this symmetry on street signs, other cars, people's clothing...this list goes on. My third grade teachers' name was Mrs. Staats. I even thought that most everything I did daily was a palindrome: cleaning my room, walking on the sidewalk, and even sleeping. This drove me mad. Once I became a teenager, I learned to ignore this (of many) quirks I had as a child, but after starting college the urge came back like a familiar visit from an extraterrestrial.

I quickly began to realize that I could transform this weird urge into what I knew best: music. I composed many pieces of music that contained palindromic structures, phrases, and rhythmic sequence. This was extremely satisfying to know that I finally had some control over it and that I could even create it and destroy it at my own will.

I have scanned and uploaded a copy of the only score I have to the first palindromic piece I ever composed (knowingly anyway). Below is the score and a link to the audio I recorded for it. It was composed and performed/recorded around 2003. The piece is for 4 guitars or any instrument capable of performing these pitch sets. It also follows a very traditional and basic Ghanaian rhythmic formula rather strictly in each part:

Spatial



The palindromic idea lies in the form of the piece. As you can see from the score, each instrument has a certain "cycle" it performs for a certain amount of time. The palindrome can be seen in the visual I have created within the score representing the form of the piece. There is also a level of symmetry in the phrases as well, though the melodic and rhythmic content are not very symmetrical. I have attempted to describe the performance instructions as clearly as possible in the score you see above.

Writing music such as this helped me realize that creating a single page score was very useful, practical, and logical. It also helped me realize that palindromes can be heard as well as read and spoken.