Archaic Music and Temporal Proximity

Many years ago I concluded that the modern emergence of bass-laden, beat-dominated music was significant beyond the realm of arts. Ties to archaic musical culture and its ability to inform the present hinted that such music is informing our understanding and perception of time. Perhaps it is reviving a lost understanding of time; a revival of archaic perceptions of time.

It became clear to me that all such compositions both archaic and modern were built with specific interaction between the tactile, audible, and visual represented in the humanities as dance, music and visual arts. The music was palpably constructed in a way to promote certain physiological movements of those dancing based on the basic parametres of the human body in which relations between body parts generally adhere to natural matemathical laws - as does tonality.

Architecture is also optimised to enhance an optimal range of sound with minimal disturbance. But more importantly, people naturally trace patterns around the various axes of their body when they dance. As they do this, they are mimicking the elements of the rhythm in the air as they dance, tracing a pattern through space to manifest the elapsing of time in the a meanful way with the physical body. So when, for example, we use long exposure on cameras to capture the trails of movements, we see the 'fourth dimension' manifested in the three dimensions of space.

I am now looking to gather the yarn up and thread an understandable package to leave behind the thicket of confusion, in order to discern the patterns of a highly ordered architecture revealed in auditory composition. Indeed, perhaps mysterious relations in one's personal temporal structures are capable of being consolidated into instantly perceivable order which is also managable.

One obvious means of visualising this pattern in space is as a basin of temporal density to which certain events are either more or less proximate. At the centre of the cone there is a denser area of events (in music beats or tones) that are most temporally proximate to the subject. The temporal proximity of encounters or actions in real life could also be given a rough value and in this way be assigned a position in three-dimensional space. The regularly with which each occurs would determine their 'loop' length. If we look at life in it's most basic components, it is the meaningful interaction of various rhythms and patterns that determines personal fulfilment, happiness and sense of purpose. From the seemingly mundane diurnal patterns of daily life to the the monumental, protracted events of our time. Each seeks to find a link to each other. To find relevance and resemblance across scales. To interact to form complex tempro-architectural strutures - towering stuctures with interlocking levels of relation.

At a more compressed temporal level. The syncopation of beats affords satisfying variation to our experience of the moment as such. Beats scatter and disperse monotony from the moment, injecting surprising glitches, amusing stupefaction and a 'different groove' to set our personal clocks to.
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Because the constraint of thee-dimensional space, distance, is temporarily subverted by the Internet being almost instantaneous around the globe, the importance of our notation of time and the roles of our current calendars play will need to be reconsidered and perhaps intergrated into temporal schedules* that are better suited to digital possibilities, specifically, that are able to weigh temporal relevance in a instantly understandable way. Helping us to priorise and sort events based on their temporal proximity.

* Schedule is derived from the Latin word schedula meaning 'strip of paper', in turn derived from the Greek skhida meaning 'splinter'. Its use as a printed timetable is relatively recent. I propose the use of time stripes organised into a meaningful strucutre to supersede the need for timetables.

The goal of any form of notation must be to alleviate the person of overly cumbersome thought processes in an efficient way so one can better direct intellectual resources to achieving a goal rather than merely sorting through a puzzle of possibilities.

Temporal Proximity Schedule

Relative temporal proximity is a more important factor than contiguity in an absolute sense.

The critical factor to understanding and effectively interacting with others in many situations is not temporal contiguity within an unfolding event, but rather its relative temporal proximity to others. This is not at a supericial level, but rather also the interplay between different levels of temporal proximities, which is to say that there are various levels of temporal 'distances' running parallel. Like a sort of conical circumference these help frame our point of reference. Pictured visually these might be depicted as concentric circles emanating out from one's temporal point of reference or origin. This relatively simple model is complicated by the dynamic nature of what can ultimately only be experienced. Indeed, David Tinapple asserts it is only through a changing point of reference that perception occurs as such. In the same way we only attain depth of visual perception through the assimilation of biocular vision, so too our temporal perception represents a continual search for reference to temporal events in the environment. We define objects getting a sense of their proportions (viewing them from different sides), and we find it easiest to recognise objects movements against their surroundings. Infact, we primarily recognise the style of mvement of others rather than their shape. We map out the schedule for our lives congenerously against the backdrop of the temporal landscape.

Attempts at sensory deprivation show that it is nigh impossible to prevent subjects from retriving temporal indicators from their envirnonment - usually by the primative and matural of sense of sound. The sounds help the person plot their temporal course in their landscape and ultimately seems to keep them sane. I would assert, that the most basic need of animals beyond air, water and sustainance is in fact the ability to calibrate largely unconscious internal rhthyms with externally derived sensory inputs. It may sound obvious to pronounce this, but it is only under such extreme circumstance of sensory deprivation that the importance of such rhythms becopmes apparent. In everyday life these are naturally calibrated.

Calendars such as the one shown above seek to attune the long-term cycles of large groups of people to the needs and demands of the culture as a whole and coordinate tasks, establishing them as rituals. They are by nature cyclical and serve to peg our understanding of the world to a codified constant. Representing one of the most important artifacts of any culture, the calendar is the key to understanding a society.

What does our calendar say about us?