Corrugated Refrains was commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University for clarinetist Kenneth Long.  the impetus for the piece is best captured in the first word of the title, both as imagery (I'm thinking of corrugated tin rooftops) and as concept (a structural unfolding of materials).  Throughout the work I explore several methods of folding the musical fabric as a means of strengthening the relationships between otherwise disparate types of material.  The folding happens both on the large scale (the work is roughly a rondo in structure) and on several smaller structural levels.  Even the oscillation between two pitches - whether rapid or slow - arise out of a highly localized concept of folding. And then the imagery.  I remember as a child seeing corrugated roofs.  They bring to mind something strong and protective on the one hand, rough-hewn and dirty on the other.  The sound of something hitting such a roof is crisp, clanky, sometimes with slappy reverberation, depending on the neighborhood.  And while the stylistic statement of a corrugated roof is bold and masculine (although such roofs rarely arise out of stylistic considerations), underneath the roof may be housed - in my childhood neighborhood, at least - a significant portion of humanity.