Losing time

We usually perceive time as an integral part of our everyday life. We try to wake up at the same time every day, we schedule our affairs and get upset if a train is five minutes late. However, we often face situations that challenge our usual experience of time when we notice an uncrossable gap between this experience and what can be measured by clocks. I believe that music is infinitely capable of providing us with such experiences, and creating that kind of confusing time with music is the main focus of my research. At the heart of this research is the idea of three ways of representing time in music: measured, unmeasured, and immeasurable. Theoretical conceptualization is mainly built upon the works of Henri Bergson and Alexander Vvedensky. However, their works focus mostly on individual experiences of time, but my main question is how one can communicate such an experience to other people through music, and how to make this experience social. I analyze different musical strategies that deal with unmeasured time or challenge the idea of measurement itself. I conclude by presenting my own strategies of creating confusing temporal experiences, mainly through building failing hierarchies of temporal authorities and challenging the possibility of simultaneity. These strategies are presented through the series of pieces called “Songs” on which I have been working while writing this paper.

Author: Daniil Pilchen