Zigzag (2021)

Composer note:
Zigzag was commissioned by a consortium of 22 universities led by Michael Butler, the Big Ten Band Directors Association and “The President's Own” United States Marine Band.

The composer writes:

…it is not a narrative piece and I did not have a specific extra-musical idea…but on the other hand, when I saw this word Zigzag, it just resonated with me because the piece is fun. That is part of it, and I love the humor and rhythmic play in pieces just as it is, just purely music and zigzag has it…even the way the word looks with the Zs, the Zs are zigzags in the word itself.

I like words that bring up multiple meanings or relate to different parts of the piece so even the cross-rhythmic aspect…when you are hearing a cross-rhythm, what your mind is doing is hearing the composite, but it is also going back and forth between the two voices…like you are processing two very independent things. I love the tension of two very independent lines in some cases, more than two independent lines.

– Program note adapted from Daniel Kenneth Farr