Workshop 1
The first workshop introduces basic fundemental qualities of sound that keep the deepest and the most mysterious energy.
Theory
White sound (swara) is an even and stable tone, usually with a clear high overtone (rendering the sound carrying power) and/or natural pulsation. It takes much patience and skill in sound meditation to produce such sound. To do it one has to achieve concord between the cosmic sound quantum and the human body.
Examples from works by Shmelev and Gladkov, analyzing ancient Egyptian papyri.
Sound in human perception is manifestation of material resilience.
Practice:
Psychology of focusing on perception
Learn to listent to the silence
Listent to the keeping tone
Swara, as a stable and pulsing sound, has no beginning or end, it endlessly «whirls» in its cycle. Its duration depends only on the time of existence of the vibrating element, which is subjectively perceived as endlessness. When the sound enters the realm of the musical form it inevitably encounters its antinomies, that is, silence and/or the change of pitch. The same is true about rhythm. The transition from endless repetitiveness to a particular pattern brings about the possibility of change or absence of rhythm.
Practice:
Perception and reproduction of rhythm
Meditation of rhythm
Meditation of tone
Practice should be done with using musical instuments (including drums/ percussion instruments), voice (singing), movements (motion/articulation skills).
A tuner and a metronome also should be used.
In time this triality induces action with its beginning and end.
Pulse, rhythm, beat
Movement at a constant velocity corresponds to rest, noted Isaac Newton.
Feeling of rhythm manifests in ourselves as a “convenient” unit with an even pulse, that corresponds to the state of rest. If the pulse manifests as a sequence of one beat in every four seconds, then it is very difficult for us to grasp its clear evenness. We have, in order to create the feeling of evenness, to fill such a gap with the rhythmic units that are convenient to us. These units roughly correspond to heartbeats of a relatively calm state (80-100 beats per minute), this optimal range can widen to 60-160 beats per minute (from full rest to very elevated state of the heart activity). And though optimal pulse varies from person to person, its average is close to 100-120 beats per minute. However, significant increase in the speed, say 240 beats per minute, are perceived easier relative to internal heartbeat, i.e. it’s easier to stay within the original tempo of 120 beats per minute. So, very slow rhythm requires filling-in with faster rhythmic units, while fast tempo requires summation of small rhythmic units into large ones.
In general, musical form is an agreement between the beginning and the end of a sound model, such that sound and rhythm leave into a filled quietude, stillness, pause.
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Process of simultaneously keeping rhythm and pitch is not a form yet, but is a particular music meditation, keeping which makes the base for the following manipulations of pitch and metric drawing.
Keeping the rhythm is an equally paced alternation of the beats not only at a constant interval, but at a constant attack and strength of the beat (sound). With total immersion in rhythm appears the state, where the feeling of movement vanishes.
Out of stillness reveals a form and into stillness it leaves.
As a scheme this can be seen as three levels of perception.
Let’s assume a man is lying on the ocean’s floor, where movement is absent. This is a total stillness of contemplation (meditation, absence of form, silence).
Large fermata denotes here the deep feeling of rest, stillness and silence.
ground floor «ocean floor»
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The sight of the man is targeted to the first floor, the middle layer of the ocean. Here, there is a stream. Its property is evenness, rhythm and svara. There exists space and time, but the form is infinite in its manifestation. It does not desire to try its destiny or to possess a life story: birth-life-death.
first floor «underwater stream»
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Volume of the rhythmic beats or the alterations of constant pitch should be extremely even relative to the extended sound, this corresponds to “non legato” and “detache” in the European practice. If the volume is kept constant any volume can be used (pp, p, mp and so on).
Middle floor is a meditative experiencing of rhythm and extended sound, that are infinite in time, i.e. are not liable to the form.
And, finally, we have the second floor. It is the ocean surface, where something is always happening. A calm is superseded by a breeze, by storms and the infinite manifestations of nature.
second floor «ocean surface»
———————————form————————————-
Here everything is in the powers of the form.
On the third floor, when the time is revealed, any music phrase is bearing in itself and assumes these two properties of a sound: retained rhythm and beat which both come out of a pause and leave back into it.
Time, as a form, and form, as time, all leave into a form-less (infinite) and eternal (time-less). The presence of eternal manifests itself as experiencing of finite.
Practice:
Joining of the ground floor and the first floor.
Workshop 2
Main rules of formation of a simle form. Accentin Form (AF) creation and the practical use of it in simple rhythm-metrical formations.
If we take rhythm and pitch to be potentially infinite then modeling them, (creating a form and sustaining it in time), assumes particular rules based on the essential properties of the sound.
“Svara” (here, meditative experiencing of a sound) as revealed stillness and total evenness of a pulse, as revealed quietude, is to be not only comprehended and felt, but also retained in ones state. Keeping them is the great magic of music. Not every skillful shaman is capable of keeping “svara” in his everyday state, but always keeps it in the heart of his trance.
Let’s consider the most important principles of musical form formation in real time.
As in a single-unit system pitch is kept at a constant height, main weight of the sound model falls on the rhythmic and metric forms.
Simultaneous process of keeping rhythm and pitch is not a form yet, but is a particular music meditation, keeping which makes the base for the following manipulations of pitch and metric drawing.
Keeping the rhythm is an equally paced alternation of the beats not only at a constant interval, but at a constant attack and strength of the beat (sound). With total immersion in rhythm appears the state, where the feeling of movement vanishes.
Out of stillness reveals a form and into stillness it leaves.
Accenting form (AF)
Let’s assume that the music form as a whole will take the time equal to 12/4.
In the first example appearance and disappearance of a sound denotes the beginning and the end of an actually used time as a music form.
In the second example the pauses assume the extension of the F note and attach to it. Psychological experience of time (expectation of a sound) here realizes itself as a pause.
In the third example eleven non-accented quarters are attached to the first one. All three examples are of the same duration and differ by the way of filling the common duration of 12/4. Difference in filling defines the different character of these three same forms.
n the following examples four forms are shown, whose difference is defined by the accents (or strength of the sound relative to the other sounds). All the elements less manifested in the strength of the sounding sum together with the preceding accented note.
Accent (i.e. the maximal sound strength) is the main factor of the rhythmic and intonational form formation. Accent, as we have already discussed, is used not in the common understanding of the term, but rather as an explicit or assumed gravity force (for example it can be expressed as pp with a following crescendo) that make other sounds be less weak.
Practice:
Composing and performance samples according to different versions of filling (in a group or individually).
«Rule of three»
So it is important to understand, that if all the sounds are granted with the same strength of expression, i.e. the equal accent, then when such equal durations with the equal accent are alternated (in spite even of the possible alternations in pitch) more than thrice then the form accepts a meditative character or a passive type of form formation.
These two examples express in the same way the infinite series of the rhythmic beat of the first floor (see the aforementioned scheme).
With the first appearance of sound with its internal and external rhythms there appears a “liability” to the time-form. Accenting form (AF) follows the “rule of three” in both pitch and rhythm (meter) if the accented duration stays constant. This means, that if the accent with the constant duration is repeated more than three times, it “dilutes” the structure, makes it passive, indifferent towards motion. “The rule of three” bears the mark of completeness of trinity, excluding the “vicious” multiplicity.
Practice for the «rule of three»:
On the following examples three AF are shown with possible ways to fill them printed right below. One can see that the notes that are filling the accents do not obey “the rule of the three” unlike the AF.
It is possible, of course, to use accent once or twice (but not more than three times). Durations that don’t comprise the accented sound are used to fill the duration of the accented note and form the relief of the metric picture. The non-accented beginning (upbeat) makes the part of the imaginary accent, which comes from the first floor.
How AF is formed?
It is important to understand that in its duration, which is limited by the form, AF bears the features that are characteristic of the first floor, such as a retained tone and its beat. Maximal time of the AF existence is limited by the tripled longest note. If, for example, we choose a whole as the longest accentuated note, the maximal total time of AF will be 12/4. The choice of a pulsating unit is agreed with beat, which does not need these units to either split or unite (this was discussed earlier).
So, in accordance with the “rule of three” and creating a rhythmic picture and its projection on to sounds of different pitch, we create a microform at the level of intonation or phrase, which serves as a nucleus, that further on forms the theme, phrase, period, and so on.
In these examples of three AFs the longest note is located in the beginning, in the middle or in the end of an AF. Total duration of every AF does not exceed that of tripled duration of the longest accentuating note. On the lower staff possible examples of the filling are given. It is worth noting again that the “rule of three” does not apply to the non-accentuating notes.
When forming an AF it is also important to check that the blocks of two or more accentuating sounds do not repeat. Their repetition is appropriate in the further combinations leading to the formation of a theme, period and so on.
So the skeleton of the following rhythmic picture (AF) is quite a scarce series of accents of different durations that do not repeat three times in a row. When this skeleton is filled by all non-accented durations the rhythmic picture is being formed according to free will, phantasy and intuition of the author.
In it’s turn the created rhythmic pattern serves as a matrix for the following transformation: вычленение, inversion, metric shifts and other composer techniques.
AF created in such a way successfully retains time that equals the total sum of all of the AF’s durations, thus resulting in a large accent, that’s equal to the AF as a whole.
In its turn this large accent, the one that equals the whole AF, can not repeat itself more than thrice. When AF is repeated either formally or by the means of other techniques (секвенция, imitation, inversion, fragmentation and so on) there forms a larger block that corresponds to a phrase or a period. Such a block is also perceived as a retained longer accent, which also can not repeat itself more than three times.
Internal laconicism of AF also can be understood because of its «natural desire» as soon as possible to embark on the second and the first floor «of the ocean.»
«Rule of seven»
When forming the metric pattern, it is also important, besides the peculiarities of filling the AF — this topic will be discussed many times further on – to follow the “rule of seven”. It means that the total number of mensural elements, both accenting and not accenting the duration, should not be more than seven. Of course, if the composer’s goal is to create a bulky form that is overburdened, and difficult to memorize such and overload with the elements will play its role. Here, though, we discuss the intonation’s tendency to maximal laconism.
Meaning of the “seven” is in the limit of qualitative differentiation within a particular phenomenon.
Practice for the «rule of seven»:
Individual analysis of the accenting forms from the folk and classical music.
Workshop 3
The Single-note system
Discussing the period of a single-note system it is important to say that its usage does not necessitate the absence of other sounds. Their usage is possible if they do not participate in forming the AF (i.e. there are no conjugated bonds between the sounds) and if those sounds (or this sound) do not enter each other’s zonal (tonal) space.
The choice of the distance (interval) here is quite arbitrary. The most important, as was already been mentioned, there should be no intonational interactions between the tones.
As far as pitch change is concerned it could be noted that maximal deviation within the sound space of a mono-system is .25 of a tone. Here, by quarter of a tone we mean either upward or downward change, which altogether form the first multiple of a tone equal to half a tone. Change, such as филирование звука, плавность перехода, игра внутренней динамики звука should fall on the non-accented part of the tone and should be, as was already discussed, relatively shortlived even though the duration of such transitions (переливы тона) are relatively arbitrary and depends on the goal or the state of the performer (cf. diverse shrutis in the Indian tradition).
In this case AF consists only of the single element – duration. Fillers tend to imitate AF in a diminished mensural form:
With a deviation of ¼, 1/8 ,1/16 and so on tone from the main tone it is appropriate to use the unaccented notes. And, as was already mentioned, the more the deviation from the main pitch is expressed, the shorter is the changed note and vice versa.
Practice:
Composing and performance of small musical forms in the single-note (one or two key-notes).