I created a key for a sample library by taking the first twenty-six prime numbers, considered them as hectohertz values and assigned them to the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet. I then proceeded to record a sample of my voice and manipulate it to match the frequency values on the library key and creating twenty-six versions of this sample. This text is the score. Punctuation marks are omitted. Space adjusts the previous sample to double the length.
[End of score]


Programme Note:

The piece explores the area between arbitrary and definite and the emergence of sequences and meanings in human mind when faced with the unpredictable.

While prime numbers and letters are far from random when translated to frequencies unrelated to western music and ripped from the rhythm of the language, we begin to lose the feeling of any meaningful order.

To further blur the boundaries between form and irregularity, I used human voice as the sound source instead of an oscillator or some other clean source. I also blended in the twelve first steps of the undertone series to steer away from sinewavy sound and increase the chance of random artefacts when mutilating the sample with effects inside the DAW.

The composition fights for balance on the edge of chaos. The mind tries consistently to find logical sequences of sounds but is always left a little short of meaning right before the payoff.

Composer:	Miika Tuohimaa
Track name:	coursework_1_in_the_vicinity_of_the_border_of_order_and_chaos
Duration:	XX:XX
Year:		2018

miikatuohimaa_6.01