We’re familiar with sensory illusions – the Doppler effect, M. C. Escher’s staircases, or the endlessly ascending tone (Shepard tone / scale), used by György Ligeti, among others.
In the late 1960s, the French composer and sound researcher Jean-Claude Risset discovered an auditory illusion: the Risset rhythm. Risset experimented with a rhythmic structure that becomes slower or faster – seemingly without end. (Of course, that’s not actually the case, but that’s how we perceive it.) Risset himself did practically nothing with this discovery, and the phenomenon remained an obscure, unexplored topic. There were no realizations for acoustic instruments or live performers – until now.
It was Sebastian Gramss – presumably the first worldwide – who developed the “Risset rhythm” under the name Helix into an extremely versatile approach, applying it systematically with a wide variety of ensembles and musicians.
In our interview, Gramss grins mischievously: “Got a little time on your hands?” Then he begins. It’s about the synchronization of non-linear rhythmic streams, played and cross-faded at different speeds. This creates an overlay of tempos that can give the impression that the music is constantly slowing down or speeding up.
In its basic form: Instrument A accelerates. After a certain number of bars, Instrument B joins in – playing at half the tempo A had at the beginning – while also accelerating, until Instrument C enters, again at half tempo, also accelerating … and so on. When A reaches the end, it starts all over again. This is the Helix – an endless process of intertwined rhythmic strands spiraling forward.
A Helix can be improvised and played intuitively – or fully composed: in that case, tempo gradients and metric modulations are precisely defined. Yet we still experience the moment of overlap as something diffuse. The clarity of the process and the sensation of placelessness coincide. Beginning and end seem unlocatable.
Conventional terms don’t apply: these are not polyrhythms, nor simply combined tempo changes. The Helix appears unstable – and yet it forms the structurally solid backbone of a piece. It can be combined with all musical parameters – harmony, melody, timbre, and more. There are endless variants of how – and in which ratios (metric modulations) – Helix spirals can be composed and performed.
At first, listening may make you feel a little dizzy. But you’re allowed to sit down – and perk up your ears.
FELIX KLOPOTEK
In the late 1960s, the French composer and sound researcher Jean-Claude Risset discovered an auditory illusion: the Risset rhythm. Risset experimented with a rhythmic structure that becomes slower or faster – seemingly without end. (Of course, that’s not actually the case, but that’s how we perceive it.) Risset himself did practically nothing with this discovery, and the phenomenon remained an obscure, unexplored topic. There were no realizations for acoustic instruments or live performers – until now.
It was Sebastian Gramss – presumably the first worldwide – who developed the “Risset rhythm” under the name Helix into an extremely versatile approach, applying it systematically with a wide variety of ensembles and musicians.
In our interview, Gramss grins mischievously: “Got a little time on your hands?” Then he begins. It’s about the synchronization of non-linear rhythmic streams, played and cross-faded at different speeds. This creates an overlay of tempos that can give the impression that the music is constantly slowing down or speeding up.
In its basic form: Instrument A accelerates. After a certain number of bars, Instrument B joins in – playing at half the tempo A had at the beginning – while also accelerating, until Instrument C enters, again at half tempo, also accelerating … and so on. When A reaches the end, it starts all over again. This is the Helix – an endless process of intertwined rhythmic strands spiraling forward.
A Helix can be improvised and played intuitively – or fully composed: in that case, tempo gradients and metric modulations are precisely defined. Yet we still experience the moment of overlap as something diffuse. The clarity of the process and the sensation of placelessness coincide. Beginning and end seem unlocatable.
Conventional terms don’t apply: these are not polyrhythms, nor simply combined tempo changes. The Helix appears unstable – and yet it forms the structurally solid backbone of a piece. It can be combined with all musical parameters – harmony, melody, timbre, and more. There are endless variants of how – and in which ratios (metric modulations) – Helix spirals can be composed and performed.
At first, listening may make you feel a little dizzy. But you’re allowed to sit down – and perk up your ears.
FELIX KLOPOTEK