This is a Unity-based video piece, inspired by Reich’s Pendulum Music, but with a microtonal tuning based on a 1-3-5-7 combination-product set. The fundamental of this tuning is an upper 2/1 partial of the Schumann resonance 7.83 Hz. This Schumann resonance is basically the resonant frequency of the Earth’s electromagnetic field.
Piece Format: Video
Count In
Count In is a meditation on the role of individual voices in an imminent post-human environment, based around a recording of Poly-Styrene (from the 70s punk band X-Ray Spex) defiantly shouting the numbers “1-2-3-4.”
Count In combines phasing techniques and just intonation (with a tuning system inspired by La Monte Young’s Well Tuned Piano) and the result is a mixture of Steve Reich, X-Ray Spex, James Tenney, and Sesame Street Pinball Number Counts. The layered iterations of Styrene’s voice are reinforced by the visual presence of corresponding numbers, which slowly change color akin to a James Turrell Skyspace.
Counting Presence
Published in Soap Ear Journal Issue 10
The following is a reflection on the 2019 piece Count In by composer Daniel Corral. In this essay Corral lays out his creative process alongside formal elements of the piece, while considering experiences of stability, change, and presence.
