Jake Berran | Electronic Music

( @ ( ( | |\| | voice + electronics

….........cathode-ray-tube 12-channel fixed media

Swirling, Pulling

Six Etudes for Bass Clarinet and Electronics

Piano Trip

Silver Ripples

Tornado of Bees

Gymnastics Routine

Fractal no. 1

Year: 2022
Duration: 3 minutes

In the majority of Western music (and perhaps all music), the different metrical layers have inter-onset intervals (IOIs) which relate to each other in small whole number ratios like 2:1 and 3:1. When two rhythmic layers have IOIs in a more complex ratio, they are deemed a polyrhythm and often not treated as two distinct metrical layers in themselves. Rather, the layers are either thought to form a slower pulse defined by the least common multiple of the two IOIs (where they coincide), or they are thought to imply a quicker pulse defined by greatest common factor of the original two IOIs (the coarsest grid which contains both).
However, I believe that our minds may not be limited to only these two interpretations, and in fact it may be possible to internalize a metrical hierarchy defined by non-integer ratios. To use more concise language, maybe we can feel stacked polyrhythms. As motivation for this inquiry, harmony already uses these non-integer ratios; for example, stacked fourths (4:3) and fifths (3:2) are ubiquitous in jazz chord voicings and 20th century classical music. Additionally, studies already show that musical training can help with cognition in this domain. One study found that beat-related neural oscillations [during polyrhythms] were more pronounced in musicians compared to non-musicians. Another concluded that conductors superseded pianists in divided-attention listening tasks, and experts superseded students. If they were more common, the average ability to process polyrhythms would likely be superior to the current one due to latent entrainment.
As a composer, one of my primary objectives is to present complex musical structures clearly so that anyone may benefit from listening. In this case, I am interested in how entrainment to stacked polyrhythms can be embedded implicitly into works of music. Thus, I have created two fixed media pieces ideal for stereo headphones, each with three metrical layers: Fractal #1 which features two stacked 3:2 polyrhythms, and Fractal #2 which features two stacked 4:3 polyrhythms.
Both tracks use various strategies to present the stacked polyrhythms from different angles. The first section of each solely contains unpitched percussion in order to allow for maximum focus on the rhythm, but the second section of each has pitched material in the same rhythms to prevent fatigue. Both include tempo changes in case the default tempo does not work for everyone. In addition, certain parameters were manipulated to emphasize one or more of the metrical layers. One parameter I control is the amount of fade in for each sample so the attack was stronger or weaker. Another is the panning; in both tracks, each metrical layer is subject to a sawtooth low frequency oscillator with a different phase offset such that it ends up in the center (i.e., foreground) roughly one third of the time. The effect is an illusion that the sounds are circling around the listeners head, with the focus alternating between the three layers.
Each track also has a unique perceptual challenge built into it. In Fractal #1, I used drums of different pitches within each metrical layer and constructed the rhythm so that the slowest rhythm sounds as a 3-layer (using Krebs terminology), implying yet another 2-layer under it, and the fastest rhythm sounds as a 2-layer, implying another 3-layer above it. In Fractal #2, the three layers are all the same hi-hat sample at different pitches, which forces the listener to perceive all layers together as a single stream, instead of siphoning off two of the layers into different streams and missing the unity of the three.
There are several reasons why I value the creative goal of well-presented complexity, the umbrella under which this project lies. First, much of the music children in our society are shown is extremely simple, both harmonically and rhythmically, and barring any disturbances, this necessity for certainty, simplicity, and hierarchy in art naturally carries over into adulthood. However, the world is a complex place, and the better our minds are at handling ambiguity and relational thinking, the better prepared we will be to face real challenges. It's imperative that most people be able to take in conflicting sources of information, like metrical layers, and synthesize them. Otherwise, we would not be able to engage in any form of productive dialogue or cooperation.

Fractal no. 2

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