Vertical time is characterised by a lack of temporal articulation and impetus (my italics) (Kramer, 55: 1988). One of the ways vertical time is produced is through repetition. In acousmatic music, vertical time can be expressed in the form of granulations, iterations, and crépitements, which include repeated material and therefore can be perceived as self-propagating. These types of sounds may manifest little or no sense of spectral or spatial trajectory over time, and hence, we may say that temporal flow becomes arrested. Vertical time can appear in several guises.
Vertical time produced by repetition
An example of vertical time produced by repetition occurs in Chat Noir at 7’22” which can be heard in sound example 3.27 (track 73), 7’12” – 7’43” in the work. Following a section that is forward-moving, the violent cut away to large-bore granulations at 7’22”
(10” – 30” in the sound example), may be perceived to propel the listener over a virtual ledge. This is because the listener may expect the forward-moving motion of the previous passage to continue. Instead, it is momentarily, but suddenly, restrained, although not completely impeded, due to the continuation of the previous passage that
‘protrudes’ through the ‘wall’ of granulations after several seconds. This example demonstrates that when instances of vertical time occur in a piece which is, largely constructed with linear time, a sense of linearity can still prevail albeit it is attenuated.
Brief instances of vertical time produced by sustained, pitched material
Examples of this type of vertical or suspended time appear in Les Forges de l’Invisible (movement 1) at 4’ – 4’10”. This is a short, quiet section, which contains, primarily, one sustained, high-pitched sound, which may impart the sense of atemporality.
Another instance of suspended time can be perceived from 3’08” to 3’15” in Neon, where the listener can have the impression of temporal release due to the almost inaudible high-pitched sustained sound that immediately follows the crack at 3’07”.
121 3.4.5 Unusual temporal contexts
Unusual temporal contexts are those with a bi-polar, uneven, or hybridised forward-moving energy flow. They appear often in my work and have considerable structural relevance. The concepts below illustrate these types.
Swaying/swinging
Although swaying/swinging is an energy model, it is employed in the works in the folio in a structural fashion because it is bi-directional. A ‘return’ of the energy trajectory exists despite the initial temporal push forward. The swaying/swinging trajectory can create a sense of atemporality or temporal impedance within a forward moving sounding flow created by other sounding elements.
Rotation
The double bi-polar form of the energy model rotation can restrict temporal flow, particularly because its trajectory into and out of ‘distant’ space, which creates a spatial stasis due to repeated motion within the same orbit, takes the emphasis off linearity.
Hybridised temporal contexts
The superposition of linear sonic contexts onto vertical contexts, or vice versa, creates a particularly elastic temporal flow. If the composer enhances one or the other of the linear or vertical elements in the discourse, temporal flow can be subtly accentuated, enabled, hindered, or arrested. Examples include:
(i) Protopia/Tesseract (second movement, 10’20” – 11’34”)
Repeated, pitched drones on channels 3 and 4 (which give the impression of temporal arrest) are superposed on sound material that moves in clockwise and counter clock-wise rotations over all eight channels. Although the rotations become faster and louder over time, the volume of the drone also increases. This temporal juxtaposition is employed as a structuring process.
(ii) Les Forges de l’Invisible (first movement, 4’ – 4’52”)
A calliope figure, which comprises a series of short, rapid, repeated pitched sounds in channels 7 and 8, is superposed with other material that evolves in channels 1 to 6.
122 3.5 Figure-Ground Relationships
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”.
126 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”.