Tempo is one of the least explored musical parameters in live performance. In non-solo performance each additional player decreases the ability to change tempo by many times. Accurate continuous changes in tempo (ie accelerando and rallentando) are generally regarded as non-specific commands (ie we are not taught to rall. over a particular, exact duration).
These understandings are embedded in our musical perception to a high degree. Even in electronic music, where tempo variations can be precise, they often cause a perception in the listener of separate streams of sound rather than elements of a composite texture. This mirrors the way in which timbres are unpicked perceptually by the listener and attributed to different sources.
Whorl uses the same structural framework as interXection to independently control three live performers via headphones. Each player receives a separately varying click-track (with five tempi and connecting accelerandi and rallentandi), as well as instructions on what dynamic, musical material and pitch set to play. This arrangement creates an unusual set of conditions for the performers in which their listening skills are divided between synchronization with the computer generated click-track and ‘ensemble’ playing through listening to the other players.
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