WEEK 2: ARCHITECTONIC CORRELATION IN CERTAIN POST-TONAL MUSICS

IAN SHANAHAN (2002)

To administrative matters... tutorial times back to 11.00 am & 12.00 noon.

To overhead of time-continuum (memory-jogger, from Week 1): the time-continuum is an

implicit prerequisite behind Schenkerian analysis; it is consciously addressed in certain
late-20th-century musics (from Stockhausen onwards). The fundamental question here is:
For the sake of structural unity, how, within a piece, might different parts of the time-
continuum be interrelated?

In the two compositions to be studied today i.e. my own Lines of Light and Chris Denchs
Funk PROPORTION is the main formal mechanism, PERMUTATION a secondary (serial)
device.

Whenever a set of proportions remains identical across architectonic strata (i.e. different regions
from within the time-continuum), self-similarity a type of scalar symmetry that
maximizes unity results, as will be seen in my Lines of Light.

NB: Classical period-structure such as (2 + 2) + (2 + 2) = 4 + 4, based upon the geometric

progression 2, 4, 8, 16,..., is inherently self-similar.

give a reminder of what self-similarity actually is and how it manifests itself in the Cosmos:
arborescence; atom, solar system.

But what does self-similarity within a composition actually mean?: go to my document on

Hermetic thought and the semiotics of self-similarity.

NB: the full document is in the Analytical Models folder in Jodies office.

IMPORTANT! For neither piece today will I be carrying out analyses directly from the
composers scores! Now each work is an outgrowth of a unifying seed (i.e. certain
rainbow wavelengths for Lines of Light; the name Afrika Bambaataa for Funk) as well as
of processes that cannot fully be reconstructed from the score; this is particularly true of
Funk: these seeds and processes are only completely knowable from the composers own
sketches, from their programme annotations, from interviews, or from inside information
(i.e., unpublished verbal comments to some informant), etc. This is often the case in complex
late-20th-century musics, particularly those that use statistical procedures {give an example:
subgamuts in my Dimensiones Paradisi}.

Rhetorical question: for such works, must an analyst refer to the composers sketches etc.?

NB: today were really dealing as much with compositional devices as with analytical
models; indeed, the latter concept might become redundant if each individual composer
develops their own unique compositional tool kit!

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Play Lines of Light, then go through the Lines of Light handouts (programme annotation, then
other stuff from my PhD).

NB: here, permutation exhibits an abstract, algebraic self-similarity i.e., the same cyclic
group moulds sectional and subsectional orderings; full details will follow in Week 5.

Now explicate Chris Denchs Funk, after playing its recording. (What follows is gleaned
entirely from Richard Toops analysis, a copy of which is in the Analytical Models folder in
Jodies office; it includes interesting background information to the piece [e.g. the origins of
its name] stuff that there simply isnt time to discuss today.)

Funk is scored for contra-alto clarinet and (unpitched) percussion i.e., a greatly expanded
drum-kit; its conceived duration is 9' (i.e. 540"). (NB: the recording of Funk is actually 10'
long, and it employs a bass clarinet instead of a contra-alto clarinet.)

Funks generative name is Afrika Bambaataa, to whom Funk is dedicated; this name
governs pitch and bar/sectional spans from the time-continuum.

NB: there is an extensive ancestry of converting names into musical materials Josquin des
Prs (15th-16th century), J. S. Bach, R. Schumann, A. Berg, O. Messiaen, M. Kagel, etc.

The letters of the name Afrika Bambaataa are turned into (subsectional) durations. Also, its
two words yields two sections (separated by the sound of a police-whistle). See Fig. 2.

The sum of the letter-numbers = 88, thus for a 9' overall duration involving 88 time-units, 1 unit
6". See Fig. 3 + verbiage.

Denchs solution to the compositional problem of dullness in temporal processes: in both

parts, each bar will be filled with either 6 (Afrika) or 9 (Bambaataa) attacks, based upon
modifications and permutations of the numbers derived from the letters. Every bar 8" is
subdivided into 6 smaller bars (according to Afrika proportions): so, self-similarity results.
Thence any single durations 8" are subjected to further subdivision, to yield an extra level
of self-similarity! See Figs. 4 & 5.

Explain how Fig. 4 is derived from Fig. 5.

Each of the 6 subsections A, F, R, I, K, A2 has a sequence of 6 bars; their lengths derive from Fig.
5. See Fig. 6 + verbiage.

Explain sliders in Fig. 6 theyre like a curved, continuous piece of string gradually being
straightened (in topological jargon ... a homeomorphism). See Figs. 7 & 8.

NB: the musical results in Funk are much more variegated than Denchs numerical processes
suggest, due in part to the wide range of bar-lengths and his sliders. Moreover, very brief
durations ( 0.07") are regarded as sub-atomic, and so are notated as grace-notes.

Funks pitch-morphology likewise stems from the name Afrika Bambaataa though in a less
rigorously formal manner. Ill give only a thumbnail sketch of Denchs schemata now. See

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 Figs. 13 & 14.

Explain the topological equivalence of Fig. 14 in relation to Fig. 13; theyre self-similar!!!

NB: different pitch-systems are in operation for the small (i.e.: A, B), the medium (i.e.: F, I, K,
M), and the large (i.e.: R, T) sections of Funk. See Fig. 15 + preamble.

For further details regarding pitch-organization in Funk, consult Richard Toops article,
pp.102115 (particularly concerning note-order and -choice).

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