Proposition

Hi my name is Roger Pell and I’d like tobriefly share some insights I have gained when composing poly tempo music, extrapolated in the following four repertoires.

Rhythm can be regarded as the inference of contrary vibrations. If we rub two sticks together in a certain way the friction will generate enough energy to produce fire, so we know it's a powerful emotive motivator.

Traditionally rhythm syncopates time at one tempo, it does this by the subdivision of its numerator, the denominator informs us of its natural accents, either odd or even. This proposition asks, what happens when there’s more than one tempo ?

To help answer this question we acknowledge that when a polyrhythm forms a continuum of its self, a second non-identical tempo is established. The interference of these two tempos is what we call a Dyadic Tempo.

All dyadic polyrhythms contain a retrograde which is highlighted by the mirroring of the two shortest durations within the poly called, Ones. We can see this clearly in graphic form, by the example No1 of p7-4. The top line maps seven fours and the second line four sevens and by drawing perpendiculars from each duration their interference produces a resultant that contains a retrograde which is mirrored by the Ones, b3 and 6d.

To identify this coincidence one tempo is named by letters and the other by numbers.  Listen for the Ones b3 & 6d as we interpret the code of p7-4 as, a2b34c56d7.

In example No2a, the p7-4 pattern is heard across 2 bars in example No2b the guitar from the tune Quarter Septa which is from the 1st repertoire of 5 Duets.

Repertoires

The four repertoires unfold in sequence. The compositions from the 1st Repertoire of 5 Duets for Alto Saxophone and Guitar explores one Dyadic Tempo. These pieces have an emphasis on improvisation. The 2nd Repertoire, Suite 4 - 2, encompasses the relatives of a single Dyadic Family and employing tonal colour from non-equivalents scales. The 3rd Repertoire, Suite of 5 - 4 - 2, orchestrates the modulation of tempos from one Dyadic Family to another. The 4th Repertoire, Book For…., contains two miniature suites. The 1st miniature is Questions. It contains four movements, each two minutes in length: one minute for the notated parts and one minute for the improvisations. The suite is eight minutes in length and unfolds one poly throughout. The 2nd miniature, Fusions, has five movements with a playing time of twenty minutes, two minutes for each notated part and two minutes for the improvisation sections. All sonic material for the 4th Repertoire is from 12 non-equivalents of 3 notes, refer to example No 8.