Within the Grid: Inquiries in the Socio-Rhythmic Ambiguities of Mechanical Time

Sagesser, Marcel

Full Metadata

Overview

Year:: 2021
Contributor:: Sagesser, Marcel (creator); Miller, Kiri (Advisor); Osborn, Ed (Advisor); Rovan, Joseph Butch (Reader); Matthusen, Paula (Reader); Brown University. Music: Computer Music and Multimedia Composition (sponsor)
Genre:: theses
Subject:: Electronic music; Music; Art; Computer music; Art and the Internet; Musical meter and rhythm; Popular music; Archives; Drummers (Musicians)
Extent:: xiii, 169 p.

Files

Description

Abstract:: Mechanically produced time grids have been present in music-making at least since the advent of the metronome, and much of today’s popular music is rhythmically based on a click track, a drum machine, or a visual grid in software. “Within the Grid” is an investigation into time grids that uses critical theory, cultural studies, popular music studies, Black studies as well as musicology to demonstrate how deeply time-keeping is connected with the human body, with dance, and with those who make music—especially with the African diaspora. The author argues—against commonly heard notions of drum machines as “asocial”—that the advent of mechanical time-keepers has resituated the social dimension and has given rise to new forms of being together, practicing together, playing together and listening together. Time grids not only have become a cultural logic through which music can be heard and analyzed, but also, if we listen carefully to the specifics of a time grid in a song, then we might learn more about its “politics”—about past histories of, struggles within, and imbalances between music-making communities and music institutions. The author suggests a nuanced understanding of the musical time grid that attends to the complexities of human musicking, with and without mechanical time-keepers. This dissertation thesis presents theoretical and historical aspects of the time grid alongside two case studies: one of the genre-defiant 1973 song “In Time” by Sly and the Family Stone, and another of the 1986 Chicago house track “Funkin’ With the Drums” by Farley Jackmaster Funk. Both tracks contain machine-made along human-made time in idiosyncratic ways that seamlessly blend the two modalities. In addition, the author describes “#otherbeats”, a participatory arts project with which he collected home-made rhythm performances from participants around the world during the global Covid-19 lockdowns. “#otherbeats” (https://otherbeats.net/) organizes the collected archive in a publicly available website where users can navigate, play with, and listen to the ephemera via an unusual graphical user interface. They move within a fluid sonic volume where they playfully engage with the alternative histories of time-keeping that have been imagined and crafted by the project participants.
Notes:: Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brown University, 2021

Content

Citation

Sagesser, Marcel, "Within the Grid: Inquiries in the Socio-Rhythmic Ambiguities of Mechanical Time" (2021). Computer Music and Multimedia Composition Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:u4svk9bf/

Relations

Has Parts:

#otherbeats including software code and media files (package)
- Type: Undetermined
- Order: 1
- View
Tempo clapping recording by participant conducting the silently with the hand, with rhythm onset detection (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 2
- View
Tempo clapping recording by participant clearly tapping on an unidentified object, averaging 86.2 BPM; with rhythm onset detection (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 3
- View
Tempo clapping recording by participant conducting the silently with the hand (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 4
- View
Slowest tempo clapping response by participant at ~43 BPM (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 5
- View
Fastest tempo clapping response by participant at ~127 BPM (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 6
- View
Slowest possible main regulating pulse at 75 BPM, 800 ms (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 7
- View
Fastest possible main regulating pulse at 200 BPM, 300 ms (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 8
- View
Tempo clapping recording by participant with “random” accents (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 9
- View
Tempo clapping recording by participant with musical subdivisions (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 10
- View
Tempo clapping recording by participant with a found, experimental outdoor “drum kit” (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 11
- View
Tempo clapping recording by participant with a found, experimental outdoor “drum kit" (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 12
- View
“In Time” by Sly and the Family Stone; first part of the introduction with the drum machine being dominant, rhythm onset detection and resynthesis (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 13
- View
“In Time” by Sly and the Family Stone; transition from introductory drum machine solo to full ensemble; rhythm onset detection and resynthesis (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 14
- View
“In Time” by Sly and the Family Stone; first chorus at around 3:30 with blue highlight for an open hi-hat hit; with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 15
- View
“Funkin’ with the drums” by Farley Jackmaster Funk; section starting at 2:20 with the TR-808’s transition back to regular sixteenth notes; with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 16
- View
“Funkin’ with the drums” by Farley Jackmaster Funk; last section of the track with full rhythmic density; with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 17
- View
Beat-making recording by participant with a mechanical device; with manually inserted black lines indicating the delay's activation points (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 18
- View
Beat-making recording by participant dancing on an outdoor lot with footwork that acts as a beat (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 19
- View
Beat-making recording by participant dancing on an outdoor lot with footwork that acts as a beat, with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 20
- View
Beat-making recording by participant using a synthesizer with an internal clock; with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis using an artificial snare sound (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 21
- View
Beat-making recording by participant manually playing a synthesizer in the outdoors along metronome (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 22
- View
Alternative metronome recording by participant useing a treadmill in their basement, with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis using an artificial snare sound (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 23
- View
Alternative metronome recording by participant; a dripping bathtub faucet with added aluminum foil for resonance (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 24
- View
Alternative metronome recording by participant; a dripping bathtub faucet with added aluminum foil for resonance, with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis using an artificial snare sound; tempo averaging 122.3 BPM (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 25
- View
Alternative metronome recording by participant; a dripping outdoor faucet, with participant improvising along on a metal container (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 26
- View
Alternative metronome recording by participant; a tree leaf in the woods shaking in the wind (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 27
- View
Alternative metronome recording by participant; a tree leaf in the woods shaking in the wind, with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis using an artificial snare sound (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 28
- View
Isolated purple “sound dot” playing back a low-pass filtered participant’s dance tempo recording; screen recording from otherbeats.net under temporary omission of all other sound sources (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 29
- View
Isolated light blue “sound dot” playing back a high-pass filtered participant’s beat recording; screen recording from otherbeats.net under temporary omission of all other sound sources (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 30
- View
Isolated light green “sound dot” playing back a band-pass filtered participant’s alternative metronome recording; screen recording from otherbeats.net under temporary omission of all other sound sources (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 31
- View
Isolated turquoise “sound dot” playing back a band-pass filtered participant’s ambience recording; screen recording from otherbeats.net under temporary omission of all other sound sources (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 32
- View
Isolated yellow “sound dot” playing a sine wave tone of random frequency; screen recording from otherbeats.net under temporary omission of all other sound sources (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 33
- View
Ambient noise recording by participant; natural surroundings in the woods with a series of coincidental, natural rhythms (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 34
- View
Ambient noise recording by participant; natural surroundings in the woods with a series of coincidental, natural rhythms (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 35
- View
Ambient noise recording by participant; an industrial workshop setting (video montage of photographic still and audio)
- Type: Video
- Order: 36
- View
Ambient noise recording by participant; an industrial workshop setting (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 37
- View
Ambient noise recording by participant with mostly constant noise (waveform)
- Type: Video
- Order: 38
- View
Screen recording of a user visiting #otherbeats at otherbeats.net with their hand on the trackpad shown in overlay; the user navigates through the website and as a result, we hear an ever-changing rhythmic texture evolve (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 39
- View
Screen recording of a user visiting #otherbeats at otherbeats.net and navigating the “About & credits” section with a stark kick drum pulse (video)
- Type: Video
- Order: 40
- View

Collection:

Computer Music and Multimedia Composition Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations for the Computer Music and Multimedia Composition department.
...

Within the Grid: Inquiries in the Socio-Rhythmic Ambiguities of Mechanical Time

Overview

Files

Description

Content

Citation

Relations

Has Parts:

#otherbeats including software code and media files (package)

Tempo clapping recording by participant conducting the silently with the hand, with rhythm onset detection (waveform)

Tempo clapping recording by participant clearly tapping on an unidentified object, averaging 86.2 BPM; with rhythm onset detection (waveform)

Tempo clapping recording by participant conducting the silently with the hand (video)

Slowest tempo clapping response by participant at ~43 BPM (waveform)

Fastest tempo clapping response by participant at ~127 BPM (waveform)

Slowest possible main regulating pulse at 75 BPM, 800 ms (waveform)

Fastest possible main regulating pulse at 200 BPM, 300 ms (waveform)

Tempo clapping recording by participant with “random” accents (waveform)

Tempo clapping recording by participant with musical subdivisions (waveform)

Tempo clapping recording by participant with a found, experimental outdoor “drum kit” (video)

Tempo clapping recording by participant with a found, experimental outdoor “drum kit" (waveform)

“In Time” by Sly and the Family Stone; first part of the introduction with the drum machine being dominant, rhythm onset detection and resynthesis (waveform)

“In Time” by Sly and the Family Stone; transition from introductory drum machine solo to full ensemble; rhythm onset detection and resynthesis (waveform)

“In Time” by Sly and the Family Stone; first chorus at around 3:30 with blue highlight for an open hi-hat hit; with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis (waveform)

“Funkin’ with the drums” by Farley Jackmaster Funk; section starting at 2:20 with the TR-808’s transition back to regular sixteenth notes; with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis (waveform)

“Funkin’ with the drums” by Farley Jackmaster Funk; last section of the track with full rhythmic density; with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis (waveform)

Beat-making recording by participant with a mechanical device; with manually inserted black lines indicating the delay's activation points (waveform)

Beat-making recording by participant dancing on an outdoor lot with footwork that acts as a beat (video)

Beat-making recording by participant dancing on an outdoor lot with footwork that acts as a beat, with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis (waveform)

Beat-making recording by participant using a synthesizer with an internal clock; with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis using an artificial snare sound (waveform)

Beat-making recording by participant manually playing a synthesizer in the outdoors along metronome (video)

Alternative metronome recording by participant useing a treadmill in their basement, with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis using an artificial snare sound (waveform)

Alternative metronome recording by participant; a dripping bathtub faucet with added aluminum foil for resonance (video)

Alternative metronome recording by participant; a dripping bathtub faucet with added aluminum foil for resonance, with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis using an artificial snare sound; tempo averaging 122.3 BPM (waveform)

Alternative metronome recording by participant; a dripping outdoor faucet, with participant improvising along on a metal container (video)

Alternative metronome recording by participant; a tree leaf in the woods shaking in the wind (video)

Alternative metronome recording by participant; a tree leaf in the woods shaking in the wind, with rhythm onset detection and resynthesis using an artificial snare sound (waveform)

Isolated purple “sound dot” playing back a low-pass filtered participant’s dance tempo recording; screen recording from otherbeats.net under temporary omission of all other sound sources (video)

Isolated light blue “sound dot” playing back a high-pass filtered participant’s beat recording; screen recording from otherbeats.net under temporary omission of all other sound sources (video)

Isolated light green “sound dot” playing back a band-pass filtered participant’s alternative metronome recording; screen recording from otherbeats.net under temporary omission of all other sound sources (video)

Isolated turquoise “sound dot” playing back a band-pass filtered participant’s ambience recording; screen recording from otherbeats.net under temporary omission of all other sound sources (video)

Isolated yellow “sound dot” playing a sine wave tone of random frequency; screen recording from otherbeats.net under temporary omission of all other sound sources (video)

Ambient noise recording by participant; natural surroundings in the woods with a series of coincidental, natural rhythms (video)

Ambient noise recording by participant; natural surroundings in the woods with a series of coincidental, natural rhythms (waveform)

Ambient noise recording by participant; an industrial workshop setting (video montage of photographic still and audio)

Ambient noise recording by participant; an industrial workshop setting (waveform)

Ambient noise recording by participant with mostly constant noise (waveform)

Screen recording of a user visiting #otherbeats at otherbeats.net with their hand on the trackpad shown in overlay; the user navigates through the website and as a result, we hear an ever-changing rhythmic texture evolve (video)

Screen recording of a user visiting #otherbeats at otherbeats.net and navigating the “About & credits” section with a stark kick drum pulse (video)

Collection:

Computer Music and Multimedia Composition Theses and Dissertations

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