Premiere: David Bernot, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO, April 16, 2024

 

Duration:  ca. 7 min

 

Program Note:

 

Convergent evolution is when organisms evolve similar traits independently from each other. Think of how a bat and a hawk evolved to fly, yet they are only distantly related (a bat is a mammal and a hawk is a bird). Similarly, a dolphin, whale, or a shark evolved to swim across different eons of time and space.

 

Convergent Evolution explores this idea with groove, and the rhythmic relationship between groupings of 2, 3, and 4. Several grooves evolve naturally over the course of the piece, flowing forward and changing their tempo and feel through polyrhythm, layering, and metric modulation. In the piece, new grooves evolve that feel similar to previous grooves in the piece—an outgrowth of the organic evolution of rhythm into familiar groupings and the convolution of different groupings into each other.

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Additional Performances:​

• NASA (North American Saxophone Alliance) Biennial Conference, Ohio State University, March 14, 2026, David Bernot, tenor sax

• Festival of Contemporary Artists in Music, Washington State University, February 8, 2025, Aaron Hill, tenor sax