Vertical Music

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Leader: phillip360
Join Policy: Open
Created on: 19 Nov 2008
Description:

Concerning temporal verticality in music with regard to static and periodic music.

"...A performance needs to start and stop, but in the absence of an overriding linearity, starting and stopping become arbitrary. The performance might have started, or stopped, earlier or later. Because the music is substantially unchanged throughout, and because it is without distinct gestures, we listen to an arbitrarily bounded segment of a potentially eternal continuum. The present that the work extends suggests itself as infinite. Past and future disappear as everything in the piece belongs within the horizon of now..." Kramer, J. D. (1988). The Time of Music. (p.386). New York, Schirmer Books.
For reviews of work related to or concerning vertical temporality in music visit, http://verticaltemporality.blogspot.com/

Recent Journals

When 2011 has ceased by Grindak | 16 Dec 2012
A Crimson Grail by phillip360 | 17 Sep 2012
weekly chart by imbuteria | 28 Jul 2009

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Skygazer1

Fascinating group. I'd stick Olivier Messiaen's 'Quartet for the End of Time' in here. It holds a sublime moment in place...

2 Feb 8:12am Reply
phillip360

Good idea, please post if you think of any. Still to be added : David Borden, Glenn Branca, Julius Eastman, Terry Jennings, John Luther Adams, Gavin Bryars, Rick Cox, Michael Jon Fink, Jim Fox, Peter Garland, Daniel Lentz, Ingram Marshall, Read Miller, Larry Polansky, David Rosenboom, Phillip Schroeder, Chas Smith, Robert Wilson, George Coates, Mikel Rouse, Paul Dresher, Rinde Eckert

13 Jan 1:36pm Reply
frags

Quite a few of the connected artists are influenced by eastern music, Cage, Oliveros, etc. Why not connect some traditional eastern music, if anyone knows of any. Also I would think verticality is generally a more eastern than western concept? (without knowing much about eastern music philosophy)

15 Dec 2012 Reply
phillip360

You're right about the structure of mine. It's just a crude exercise in brutalising the Gregorian 'Dies Irae' really.

2 Dec 2011 Reply
fydhws

The first, starting, guitar "melody" is played through the whole song, on one channel is normal playing on the other is reversed. Second guitar starts at the 21 sec. mark and ends at 4:15, 21 sec. before ending of the song, etc for all instruments. And for each, one of the channel is for normal, and the other for reversed playing.

1 Dec 2011 Reply
fydhws

@phillip360, yes it is, with one little mistake I overlooked. In the final mix I decided to put delay effect on the string part, so now when listened backwards the delay effect starts 1 sec earlier then the normal playing (forgot to correct that thing). Yes, you can't tell from the middle if it's palindrome. In your piece the melody that's played is finishing at the middle of the composition (and then is reversed, for the rest of the song), right? In my case there are several improvised "melody" parts, but they are changing through whole song, that's way the middle part has no meaningful way for recognizing.

1 Dec 2011 Reply
phillip360

fydhws> is that really a palindrome? I searched for the middle and listened, it is a perplexing piece. I like it in any case. Also I forgot to mention a palindromic piece that I wrote http://www.last.fm/music/Phillip+Henderson/Drones%2B%2526%2BRepetitions/Day+Of+Wrath

1 Dec 2011 Reply
phillip360

Sorry for the late reply Barmalewska, I'm busily engaged in a writing project. David Hykes? No not to my knowledge. If any member has a moment, please review this potential artist connection and add if desired.

1 Dec 2011 Reply
Barmalewska

does David Hykes belong to this?

18 Nov 2011 Reply
Shru

Connection to Skullflower, perhaps? A lot of their more recent works follow this structure, with each track largely being frozen in time (disregarding some subtle, incidental meandering.)

26 Oct 2011 Reply
Thijs_de_vries

Phrases have, until recently, pervaded all Western music, even multiply-directed and moment forms: phrases are the final remnant of linearity. But some new works show that phrase structure is not necessarily a component of music. The result is a single present stretched out into an enormous duration, a potentially infinite “now” that nonetheless feels like an instant. In music without phrases, without temporal articulation, with tonal consistency, whatever structure is in the music exists between simultaneous layers of sound, not between successive gestures. Thus, I call the time sense invoked by such music “vertical.” (Kramer 1988 p.55)

22 Sep 2011 Reply
fydhws

Thanks a lot, phillip360. I'll check out Charlemagne Palestine really soon. I like the mirrored melody idea of Bach also.

6 Sep 2011 Reply
phillip360

Hi fydhws. Two contrasting examples immediately spring to mind; The scored palindrome in J. S. Bach’s Art Of Fugue (BWV 1080), Contrapunctus 12 and 13 contain sections in which the melody line is mirrored about a horizontal axis. Also in the 'Schlingen-Blängen' recording published by New World Records (Charlemagne Palestine, 1999) the inversion of the theme seems to signal the middle of the piece and the mirrored volume and melody pivot at the centre of the timeline.

6 Sep 2011 Reply
fydhws

Hello, thanks for the membership. Recently I was experimenting with song structures, the goal was to compose piece that would sound same if you are playing forwards and backwards. Do you know some other artist who use similar methods, I'm interested how it would sound? Here is mine, if you are interested, 1234+1 levo desno (left right).

6 Sep 2011 Reply
phillip360

Thanks m_petrac there's more about Kramer here - http://verticaltemporality.blogspot.com/2008/12/review-time-of-music-new-meanings-new.html

6 Sep 2011 Reply
phillip360

The recent discussion about membership has a development. A user has applied to join but not one of their top 100 artists ever scrobbled is connected to this group. This indicates to me that there is little point in approving the application. Is liking Kramer's quote enough?

5 Sep 2011 Reply
phillip360

no frags it is not

5 Sep 2011 Reply
frags

So is "music that doesn't want to go anywhere" an acceptable definition?

4 Sep 2011 Reply
phillip360

I don't feel that I should personally examine every member before they may join - so in an attempt to sort this out I've changed the join policy to member approval, not sure how that works but shall we try it?

1 Sep 2011 Reply
pitchorneirda

I admit I don't know; I love this group and its connections and it's kinda perfect for me like this. I'm only disappointed to see members who don't even know any of the artists you connected with the group and who think the music they listen is 'vertical' because it's meditative or even only instrumental. Maybe set up the join policy with 'owner approval' !?

31 Aug 2011 Reply