McGraw

AAWM JOURNAL VOL. 2 NO. 2 (2013)

Preliminary Remarks on a Helical Representation of Time

Andrew McGraw

---

Abstract:

In this article I describe a system for representing musical timing as a helix, enabling the three-dimensional visualization and printing of both micro- and piece-length temporality. Examples from the Balinese gamelan repertoire serve as the principal examples. I describe the functionality of Mathematica code developed to produce the visualizations, providing publically accessible links to the code, data, and output files. Rather than a study presenting extensive findings, this article outlines a method and describes preliminary examples. The model represented here aspires neither to a mathematical formulism—a computational approach to model composers’ processes—nor to a cognitive psychology, which would attempt to reveal ostensibly universal mental representations of musical time. This study combines ethnography with music theory to suggest one possible musical imagination—the helix as a spatial heuristic for listening.

Read full article in PDF version

Contributor Information:

Andrew Clay McGraw is an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Richmond.

© 2013 by the author. Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of this article without requesting permission. When distributing, (1) the author of the article and the name, volume, issue, and year of the journal must be identified clearly; (2) no portion of the article, including audio, video, or other accompanying media, may be used for commercial purposes; and (3) no portion of the article or any of its accompanying media may be modified, transformed, built upon, sampled, remixed, or separated from the rest of the article.

---