saunders' work explores modular and serial structures and uses open forms. series such as "#[unassigned]" (2000–9) and "divisions that could be autonomous but that comprise the whole" (2009–11) adopt a variable structure, comprising a selection of modules that can be combined in multiple ways to make new configurations for each performance. his music uses extended instrumental techniques and found objects as a means of exploring the sonic properties of materials. it is “predominantly quiet, with sustained tones, often on the edge of inaudibility, interspersed with shorter sounds, all produced by an instrumentarium that mixes conventional musical instruments with a range of low-tech sound sources”. he used interpersonal cueing systems to control the way his music is structured (things whole and not whole, 2011), and made distributed pieces that allow collaborative input from others (distribution study, 2011).