Six-Fold Symmetry

Written for guitarist Andrew Gomez-Ramirez. The title “Six–Fold Symmetry” refers to three aspects of the work: the six strings of the guitar, the symmetries of the piece’s construction, and the six–fold symmetry of snowflakes. The guitar’s strings are retuned such that the open strings sound the all-combinatorial hexachord 6-20, and tetrachords drawn from this hexachord provide the piece’s harmonic material. The piece is divided into three sections; the harmonic content of each section follows the same progression and each section is transposed a major third lower from the previous section. The specific realization of the harmonic patterns into musical material differs from section to section. The piece’s repetitive but ever-changing motives imitate gentle snow fall.