Composer’s Note:

The first time I played Joplin for college auditions, I was immediately stopped in the first measure and informed that ragtime is not swung. Oops. A few months later, when prompted to write a piece in compound meter without it becoming a jig or a waltz, I decided to use that memory as an entrance into the exercise. The rhythm ofBoink Rag lives between swing and lilt.The pitches are born of clich riffs and uninhibited intuition.

At the time, I was studying short pieces by Webern, Carter, and Boulez, listening toInterstellar Space and Naked City, and thinking about the four-panel comic as a short form.