3.5.1 Definition
Figure-ground relationships provide a constant interaction between the foreground and the background in the temporal flow in my works. In such relationships, background material can coalesce in energy and mass and push, nudge, or fling sounds into the foreground. Conversely, foreground material can develop and blot out the background. Furthermore, there is an interconnection between grounds and voids.126 A ground can, like the void, function as the ‘area’ around a sound, the ‘area’ after a sound, the ‘fulcrum’ between a sound and silence, or between a sound and other sounds. Like the void, the ground is as important as the sound itself. Figure-ground relationships aid in the formation of metaphorical images because almost all sensorial reception happens in the framework of figure-ground relationships in the context of time. Specific instances of figure-ground relationships are highlighted below.
Background material in figure-ground relationships
Neon contains an example of a figure-ground relationship (4’45” – 5’), where background material coalesces in energy and mass and flings sounds into the foreground. In this case, the thrust provided by the ground creates a foreground frame in which figure material can be introduced and developed.
Interaction between foreground and background
An example of a figure-ground relationship, where the foreground and the background are interconnected through space over time, can be perceived in Neon, from 5’ to 6’30”.
Foreground giving way to background
In a variation of a figure-ground relationship, an entire foreground can give way to an entire background as the foreground recedes from frontal space, an example of which exists in Ether between 9’16” and 9’21”.
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Voids are moments in a sonic context that are distinguished by a palpable lack of energy. They are discussed in 3.6.3.
123 Figure-ground relationship with a rotation
A figure-ground relationship can occur with a single sound element that impregnates itself as a binding element between the figure and the ground. For instance, the double bi-polar form of the rotation energy model can ‘contact’ the ground and thrust it to the fore and, equally, ‘contact’ the fore to thrust it back to the ground. One example of such a figure-ground relationship can be found in Neon at 4’30”.
3.5.2 Sonic webs
Sonic webs consist of sheer swathes or woven filigrees of transparent and/or translucent sound materials which sit on the fulcrum between figures and grounds and that can ‘reach out’ toward a figure or ‘stretch’ back into a ground. Sonic webs are very interconnected and are an essential part of figure-ground relationships. They can provide sound material that precedes, builds up to, and participates in, an important structural event. Sonic webs can also subtly recede into the background to act as a ‘ground’ for the event and serve as an ‘absorbing place’ in the wake of the event. In the latter case, the web operates as the ‘frame’ around the sonic ‘detritus’ that follows the event, whether the detritus comprises the end of a reverberated sound or the last part of a percussion resonance, etc. A sonic web can also create the ‘ground’ for a sound event, which can, in turn, destroy the web but the destruction can yield a new sonic context in a new space for a new web to be built. Further, sonic webs can provide a context for a figure when participating with a ground, and a context for a ground when participating with a figure. Webs can be in spectral, spatial and temporal agreement with other simultaneous sound material, or not, or they can weave in and out of this type of agreement. Finally, large-scale rotations and spiral forms are often a component of sonic webs because they can expand spatial parameters and create relationships between material in the foreground and background that is segregated spatially. Specific instances of sonic webs are highlighted below:
Interconnectedness
In addition to its function as an extensive topology, which was discussed in 2.2.3, the meta-environment from 1’30” to 3’10” in Neon is also a sonic web. This example illustrates the interconnectedness provided by a sonic web which consists of individual strands of sounds.
124 Absorbing place
A sonic web may act as an absorbing place for energy. For example, the ‘breathing’ sound and ensuing drone, both of which can be heard several times on different channels between 9’16” and 9’44” in Ether, are accompanied by a ongoing sonic web consisting of pitched, fragmented material. The web ‘absorbs’ the energy/motion trajectory conveyed by the ‘breathing’ sound and sustains the spatial dimensions of the sonic universe throughout the antiphonal exchange between the ‘breathing’ sound and the drone.
Discrete sound material
A sonic web, which is created from spectrally discrete sound material, is constructed in downward moving spectral layers at the beginning of Chat Noir and is deconstructed by layers at the end of the work.
Transitional passage
An example of a sonic web that acts as a transitional passage between sections can be heard in Ether (8’ – 8’40”) (sound example 3.28, track 74), where human utterance, pitched drones, softly tolling bells and sinuous pitched material create a rather quiet, diaphanous transition between two high-energy sections.
Ongoing background
A sonic web can arise as an ongoing background that thickens and develops into a foreground, changes spectromorphological parameters, increases in density and size and develops temporal thrust. Examples can be heard in Neon (3’08” – 4’30”) and Les Forges de l’Invisible (4’ – 4’52”).
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3.6 Silence, Stasis-Points, Inactivity, Voids and Omission
Silence, stasis-points/inactivity, voids and omission are not sounds but concepts that create structural and perceptual ‘allowances’ in a spatio-temporal frame. These concepts are allied to the energy flow of a work in such a way that the energy flow, at times, can be expressed in one of these five guises. In my music, structural allowance is frequently concerned with the often non-linear or very weakly linear sound event or events that follow a temporally charged section. A section that contains such a ‘dip’ in energy flow infuses the structural and metaphorical significance of an upcoming sonic context. Furthermore, this same ‘dip’ can aid in perceptual constructions, notably, structural recall, by allowing the time and space for the listening consciousness to imbue the preceding section with a specific structural and metaphorical significance while the temporal flow moves forward.
3.6.1 Silence
Silence is a perceived elimination of the sounding flow. The structural and metaphorical pertinence of silence is as profound as the sounding flow. For example, temporality can be borne from silence or, conversely, it can continue through silence, if silence follows a sounding flow. Additionally, once the impression of silence and atemporality is established in the listener’s mind, it can continue for some time during a new sonic context.
3.6.2 Stasis-points and inactivity
In contrast to silence, stasis-points and inactivity refer to a part of a sounding flow that does not contain a temporal thrust. These constructions are not an antithesis of a highly energised and forward-moving section of the sounding flow; instead, a stasis point or a place of inactivity refers to a non-evolving point in a sounding flow. We can think of them as ‘resting points’ although they are not necessarily quiet. An example of a stasis-point occurs from 13’12” to 13’31” (sound example 3.29, track 75)in the second movement of Les Forges de l’Invisible. This section is dominated by a series of metal crépitements and a sustained, pitched, spectrally rich sound on channels 7 and 8 (at 3” in the sound example) that billows forward over the listener from the rear but which, once established, is gesturally inert.