Randy Gibson

The Harmonic Time Constructions are an investigation into directly affecting our perception of time. Time itself becomes tuned to the concerns of The Four Pillars by drawing extreme focus from the performer. In Harmonic Time the performer must actively perceive the entirety of the situation, from the sounds they are making, to the feeling in the room, to the light, the actions of the audience, the actions of the other performers.

In addition to the typical concerns of a performer - pitch, timbre, rhythm, touch - the performer in an Harmonic Time Construction must act both at the micro- and macro-scopic level, resetting their internalized understanding of passing time with each perceived change.

Time is intimately related to change. It is only through change that we understand that time is passing - we see the clock, the sun rises and sets, the seasons come and go. By imperceptibly controlling and altering the time units that are being perceived by the performer, I directly alter the notion of change. As we focus more and more deeply on perceiving any change we become acutely aware of all change around us, and - as performers - we begin to filter those changes, negotiate with them. It is a deeply personal experience that recontextualizes everything about what it means to perform.

Harmonic Time was first hypothesized in the months following the world premiere of Apparitions of The 27:28 Symmetry under The 72:81:88 Differential Cirrus. The experience of rehearsing and then performing this work with ChampdAction led to the understanding that the balance of sound and silence could directly alter the feeling of time passing in a performance.