The grid and beats

In 1993, when I started doing Tonal Refraction, I knew the grid would be a trap, the equivalent of a ticking metronome, which I despised. So I crocheted a rug, breaking all the rules: yarns and needles of different gauges, no ruler. Everything eye-balled, done by feel.

When it came time to stitch the rectangles together, of course they did not match up properly, so I had to improvise borders and interfaces to turn them into a credible entity.

Now, in 2026, I find myself in exactly that situation in relation to Mozart’s quarter-notes. They do not entirely match because their content is radically different, even within a given movement, a given measure. So the voice must take over to fill in the gap, or the mathematical brain discern balancing counter-rhythms, or the running argument between top and bottom voices allowed to call the shots.