Once again we turn to Gonzalo Macías’s book Twelve Ways to Approach Musical Composition (Macías, 2014). In proposal number 5, titled “Cycles,” the Mexican composer suggests using the repetition of an idea as a compositional strategy.

In this case, we will apply his technique in a piano piece that can be heard at the following link:

La pieza en cuestión se denomina Cíclos, se construye sobre cuatro ideas que mostramos en las siguientes imágenes:

This first pattern is the one that forms the first cycle, as it is repeated four times. You can consult the score to verify what is explained here, and of course you may play it if any curious soul feels like it.

From there we have a second motif, shown in the image below, which is also repeated 4 times. Starting at measure 17, the first pattern reappears with a variation in the notes.

Pattern 1 goes through six cycles before giving way to a new pattern that presents only a group of sixteenth notes on the first beat. It is shown in the figure below.

This cycle occurs five times, and in the last two of them it includes a chord on the last beat of measure 33 and the first beat of measure 34. To close the composition, in measures 37 to 39 patterns 1 and 2 reappear as a kind of farewell, finally leading into a traditional V–I to end the piece.

The rhythmic idea was inspired by Zeppelin’s “Kashmir,” at least that group of sixteenth notes that appears on beat 1 in the measures.