"trichotomic ecology (or TE for short) is a fully immersive sound experience in the sense that the listeners are immersed within the music both physically (via the physical-spatial positioning of the three instrumentalists and the three-dimensional computer-generated sound) and temporally (TE is a circa 43 minute sonic monolith).

The notation for TE is composer- and computer-mediated in real time during the performance, necessitating my participation at the marimba and computer controls for every performance. I do not control all notation elements directly; rather, I manipulate a set of composer-created computer algorithms that control the notation sent to the performers' video screens. In addition to the computer responding to the direction of the composer via foot pedal commands, the computer also "listens" via microphones to the performers and responds to what it "hears" according to algorithms created by the composer. Since TE does not rely on traditionally explicit notation, it emphasizes the unique musical personalities of the live performers.

In the title, the term "trichotomic" alludes to the three musical personalities that spring from the performers' individual interpretations of their parts, further articulated by the static physical-spatial positioning of each instrumentalist in separate areas around the listener. However, these musical personalities are connected; they are constituent parts of a larger entity. In their interactions, the three parts resemble a network of living organisms, or ecosystem.

The computer-generated sounds (which, except for the opening metallic scraping sounds, are almost exclusively manipulations of the instrumental sounds created by the live performers) exist freely in three-dimensional physical space, and move fluidly around the live performers and the listener, providing a chimerical sonic interstitium complementing the performers' fixed locations.

In the surround recordings of TE, each instrumental voice is given a specific, static region in the listener's field of hearing. Both the marimba and percussion array, in reality, span significant lengths (9 ft. and 7 ft., respectively). In the surround versions of the recording, both cube and quad, the marimba and percussion are captured with spatial fidelity: the marimba ranges from -45° (highest bar) to +45° (lowest bar), while the percussion ranges from -45° (sizzle cymbal) to -135° (suspended cymbal). The viola, being a much physically smaller instrument, occupies a smaller region of space centered at about +75°."-Sound-Space Audio Lab