music
piece for stones and winds
The piece embodies an experiment that opts to differ from the often-arising structure of free improvisation of silence-tension-release. The piece is governed by a set of rules aiming to create an ever-changing ostinato-like musical fibre. This is achieved using rules based on random graph theory, namely the configuration model. Each person chooses two persons whom they listen to and makes decisions about whether they are allowed to play. Of course, certain elements are not fixed so that the players are free to play within the set rules. The wind players are also allowed to not obey the rules, but only once during the entire piece.
pozsár máté septet
choose extra cheese
experimental lab
choose cheese
choose cheese
sound illustration
We play the undertones of a given frequency, with each "subnote" corresponding to a division of the original frequency. Here's how it works:
- Subnote 1 (the original frequency) is played on every beat.
- Subnote 2 sounds on every 2nd beat, Subnote 3 on every 3rd beat, and so on.
- For the 4th beat, the [2, 4] partials sound, meaning both the 2nd and 4th subnotes play.
In this pattern, the numbers associated with prime factors sound more often, while prime numbers (which only divide by 1 and themselves) are heard alone. This allows us to identify prime numbers simply by listening—composite numbers will produce multiple tones, while primes will stand out with singular ones.
This concept is illustrated in The Building Blocks of Numbers – The Primes by Gergő Pintér.