Ever since I started developing this work, a polyrhythm of 3, 7 and 11 has persisted throughout.  Yet, when I listened to early iterations of the work, I often found myself hearing a phantom 4 time.  I have sometimes noticed this when listening to other music I know to be polyrhythmic.  My brain evidently has a tendency to perceive that rhythm, which is so dominant in my musical heritage, in its drive to find patterns in the unfamiliar.  I understand this tendency to be a cultural construct – I heard somewhere that people of the Balkans, when absent-mindedly drumming their fingers, are likely to do so in an asymmetric rhythm such as 11.  I have adjusted the work so that I no longer hear the 4.  Or perhaps I have merely become more accustomed to the polyrhythm.  Either way, the meaning of the work’s title should now be apparent:  Against The Tyranny of 4!

It is not necessary to be consciously aware of the specific polyrhythm in order to appreciate the music.  However, for those who may be interested, here are some pointers for identifying the three cross rhythms.  For reference, I should first explain that the work is a trio for three virtual instruments:  a sampled drum kit; a monophonic plucked synth part that I shall call the ‘bass’, though its higher registers perhaps sound more like a guitar; and a monophonic ‘lead’ synth part whose timbre varies between a brass instrument approximation and a bowed stringed instrument approximation.

The number of underlying pulses in a bar is 231, being the least common multiple of the cross rhythms 3, 7 and 11.  The total bar length is just under 3.7 seconds.  Because the cross rhythms are all prime numbers, the only beat they have in common is the first pulse of the bar.  When the drum kit plays that beat, it is with a kick drum only.  Other beats of the 3 rhythm are played by the snare drum;  other beats of the 7 rhythm are played by cymbals; and other beats of the 11 rhythm are played by toms.

The bass mostly picks its notes from the 3 and 7 rhythms only.  However, in its ‘solo’ and in the ‘dual solo’ with the lead just before the end, the bass picks notes from all three rhythms.  Similarly, the lead mostly picks its notes from the 11 rhythm only. However, in the lead’s two ‘solos’ and in the ‘dual solo’, it too picks notes from all three rhythms.  (The lead solo before the bass solo has bass accompaniment; the later one does not.)

For the lead and bass parts, the selection of the pitches and, when a part is ‘soloing’, the lengths of the notes is stochastic (i.e. controlled by time-dependant probabilities).  The determination of which drum kit instrument articulation plays when is merely probabilistic, as there’s a fixed pattern throughout, except right at the end.  The same is true of lead and bass note lengths when not ‘soloing’.

Against The Tyranny of 4 is the first work created with a software sequencer I have been developing myself.  I used a Superior Drummer sampled drum kit.  The lead and bass parts were made with the software synthesizer Massive.  Because the work is stochastic, it is different every time I run the software.  So I may release multiple versions.

This particular version was recorded on 26th October 2022 at O'Rorke Towers, Wellington, New Zealand.

Simon O’Rorke

Against the Tyranny of 4

0ur monthly series where we travel to the outer limits of music and find out how it’s created through the ears and minds of musicians. Featuring our resident esoteric music specialists, Dan and Nell, with a broad range of guests; this episode’s guest is the extraordinary musician Isaac Smith.

For more episode info visit: https://www.pyramidclub.org.nz/podcasts
All episodes of Dancing in Your Head were produced for Paekakariki FM: https://paekakariki.fm/dancing-in-your-head/

Dancing In Your Head - Ep02 - Isaac Smith

Pyramid Club Wellington

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