The composer says, "Basic Training" loosely (and not really linearly) traces the development of a pianist from the 'Neanderthal-like, noise-producing thuds of first contact, through a number of textures and variations, finally achieving something of a sophisticated intimacy with the instrument.

Written for the poem "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg. The narrator and the string quartet are equal partners in an often changing relationship, sometimes united in a close and intense rhythmic world and sometimes telling similar stories in separate ways. Howl is recorded by the Kronos Quartet and is available on Nonesuch Records.

A suite in seven relatively brief movements. A riff, for the purposes of this piece, can be described as a "condensed, rhythmiclly incisive phrase that repeats." These phrases appear in various guises throughout the suite; however much of the material is shared and transformed from movement to movement.