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Sound is a wave and a
wave has a time period. A note consists of a fundamental (which
determines its pitch) and a series of harmonics (or overtones) with
frequencies that are integer multiples of the fundamental. If you
record a note and slow it down a lot, it will eventually appear as a
series of discreet pulses. "Hora Harmonica," realized in 1983, is not a
piece of music, but conceptual art inspired by the physics of sound.
Albert Mayr proposes a harmonic clock, a model of non-linear time.
Imagine a note that has a fundamental with a period of exactly 60
minutes. Its first overtone would "ring" at 30 and 60 minutes; its
second at 20, 40, and 60; its third at 15, 30, 45, and 60; and on and
on. Mayr created such a "virtual" note (i.e., this is not a note slowed
down, but digitally re-created for practical audibility purposes),
placing in the period of one hour its harmonics up to the 12th. The
full "sound" sounds at the very beginning of the track. Then the
listener waits for five minutes before something else (the 12th
harmonic) is heard again. The 11th appears alone at five minutes and 27
seconds, the tenth at six minutes, the ninth at six minutes and 40
seconds — a chart details the action (or lack of) in the
booklet. Besides suggesting a different way to keep track of time, in
which one would eventually recognize five-, six-, ten-, and 12-minute
periods by the sound of their respective harmonic, Mayr's piece doesn't
fertilize much ground for philosophical thought. But his realization of
the concept is exemplary and the 16-page booklet is generous in
historical and conceptual background. |
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