Through this project I want to work with the term relative time in an ensemble-improvisational context. This term points to a more open and free relation to what time signature an ensemble is playing in, where the musicians can access all the layers (timelines) in the rhythmic scale at once.

The foundation for the project stems from classical composer Henry Cowell’s idea that rhythm and harmony is the same. It’s all frequencies where rhythm is frequencies slow enough that we perceive them as rhythms and harmony are frequencies so fast that we hear them as pitches. If we take the overtone scale and slow down the tempo, we get the rhythmic scale. This scale represents a relative unit that can represent one measure, but also larger and smaller periods. The concept is that any period can be seen as a tree of rhythmic timelines where the composer and/or musicians can choose which timelines feel relevant to use.

Alexander Hoholm is working as a research fellow in artistic research under the working title Trancing Frequencies. There he will work with the term relative time in an ensemble-improvisational context. Alexander has been a member of the orchestra for composing musicians in Oslo (OJKOS) and has been a highly active musician both during and after his education.

His background and musical expertise have its roots in jazz and improvisational music. As a bass player he is playing both the acoustic and the electric bass, sometimes through sound processing, in improvised and composed music. In and through artistic practice he is exploring the different processes, tensions and the artistic possibilities emerging through musical interplay. This can be in the interactions between the body, the acoustic instrument, different sound processing and amplification. Between solo and ensemble projects, between musicians, collaboration partners, infrastructure, also extending to the interaction between improvisation and composition.