In sound, pitch and rhythm exist as part of the same perceptual phenomenon, though at drastically different temporal scales. In the 1950’s composer Karlheinz Stockhausen actively engaged this concept and its underlying structure as a basis for much of his early work and writings. Through similar generative methods we examine the underlying perceptual and geometric/spatial structure and pattern, both sonically and visually.
The difference between pitch and rhythm lies largely in apparatuses of human perception. For example a sonic rhythm sped up above 20 pulses per second will blur from a rhythm into a constant pitch within the human senses. Similarly, a series of consecutive visual images sped above roughly 20 frames per second will blur into a quasi-moving image to the human apparatus. Here, rhythm is taken to be the gap between each new bit of information received by an observer. This gap can exist spatially as the interval between each bit, or temporally as the duration between each bit. This could be visually filmic or sonically rhythmic/tonal, to touch on two of the senses. It should be noted, however, that we are rarely ever exposed to a signal with only a single source of information. Rather, we are constantly bombarded with multiple simultaneous signals which constitute an ever-fluctuating array.
Click here to listen. Built with Processing.
Research. Originally developed in UPennDesign Graduate Seminar; Form and Algorithm. Instructurs Cecil Balmond and Daniel Bosia
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