King's College London

Temporality in music is widely associated with duration and the organisation of material into metric units. This thesis departs from such elements and conventional perspectives on time by focusing on contrasts, permutations, mirror structures, symmetry, palindrome formations, gradual transformation of material, the coexistence between developed and static layers, as well as what I experimentally discovered and defined as the infinite sequence model. Initially, my techniques attempted to establish a global sound created by the continuity and the perceived integration of frequent permutations of successive short passages of contrasting character. By maintaining the concept of a global sound, short passages began expanding to larger sections, establishing a process of the gradual transformation of material, until my research concluded with the coexistence of developed and static material. Are short passages of opposing character equally important? Do their permutations create an overall impression and a global sound? Is gradual transformation of material associated with timelessness? By experimenting with such techniques and methods and, at the same time, departing from conventional definitions and perceptions on temporality, these are the primary questions this thesis attempts to address.