The Eternal Domi Síbe

In 2009, I composed a piece for percussion ensemble called Compound Autonomy. I recently recalled something about my naming process of the piece. 

I'd practically forgotten about this (or maybe I'd hoped to erase it from my memory), but when I first wrote this piece, I had subtitled it The Eternal Domi Síbe. Here's what that's supposed to mean. 

Much of the foundation of the piece is based on a repetitive pattern of the solfège syllables "Do" followed by "Me" (the minor version of "Mi"), in a pattern of 7 beats. "Síbe," roughly translates to "Seven" in German, the language spoken in Zürich, Switzerland - home of Nik Bärtch, the composer whose music inspired me to write this piece. 

Whew...talk about an intellectual exercise! Reflecting on this, it seems really contrived to manufacture such a complicated, mysterious-sounding subtitle. I love Nik Bärtch and his music, but I never used solfège nor do I speak German. Get over yourself, dude! 

I'm glad I didn't publish it that way. The finalized subtitle "for percussion ensemble" does the trick just fine. Hopefully the music will speak for itself without needing to allude to some sort of forced meaning.