My interest in unusual time signatures began back in around 2002/3. This project is my attempt to systemize my approach, which is based on the short/long beat system common in Bulgarian folk music. The techniques, which are useful for improvisers and composers, also touch on the use of internally organic cross-rythm, and of complex polyrhythms. As a result of working on this I am now able to play in pretty much any time signature (some of them are more than a hundred quavers to the bar), and simultaneously layer several other rythmic patterns over it, up to two at a time. I also use polyrhythms extensively in my compositions, and am addicted to practising them, such as 7:5, or 11:10.

This is an experiment where many contrasting elements are derived from a single repeating phrase of length x in a specified rhythmic context that has a complex relationship to x. This comes out of Rhythmic Circles, (see above), and requires some familiarity with those ideas, but is a subject in its own right, since it is essentially a distinct generative process for compositional material.

While musing on how to write a piece for percussion, I came upon the idea of the Ultimate Polyrhythm: that is, a structure that lasts 25 billion years. Two polyrhythms, a and b, have a duration ab. After that, as long as the rhythms are not factors of one another, the duration expands exponentially. And it earns a fortune every performance from the performing rights society! Trouble is, you have to wait until it ends to pick up the cash...

What a difference a flat makes. (Spot the song...) Turn that major third into a minor one and a new vista of harmonic possibility is revealed. I take a step beyond the usual scalar application of the mode and apply it as a way of substituting chunks of functional harmony.

Chords on top (literally) of other chords. Here, I look at the stacking of various types of harmonic elements to form more complex chord structures. It is possible to substitute one four-note chord for another in specific harmonic situations without altering the function of the harmony, as long as the bass remains constant. This is primarily aimed at improvisers interested in post-bebop reharmonisation, and I use jazz standards as examples.

This study is a detailed extrapolation of harmonic possibilities within the half-whole scale, often called the diminished scale by jazz musicians. Normally this scale is reduced to a riff over a dominant chord with a flat 9th, which, I think, is a shame. The symmetry of the scale gives rise to interesting harmonic logic which is "square", in the sense that everything that occurs from one point in the scale also occurs in direct transposition at three other points. I look at harmonisation, voice-leading and intervallic possibilities. I also draw some pleasing diagrams.

This is not about a tunnel-digging caravan-dweller, but about a rather odd minor scale I like. You could also call it a harmonic minor with a flat second and a sharp fourth, without upsetting it. This work is a description of its seven modes.