Temporal Interval (iT)
What is a temporal interval?
The temporal interval (iT) is the basic distance element of the temporal dimension. It represents the distance between two selected pulses . Its purpose is to specify the duration of the sound we assign to a pulse by indicating its distance to the next pulse we have chosen.
THE TEMPORAL INTERVAL
The duration of an iT (1) generally corresponds to one pulsation. The pulsations are the units of measurement we use to measure the length of a segment. When measuring the duration of a sound, we count the number of pulsations between the pulse that marks the beginning of the sound and the one that marks its end.
The difference between a temporal interval 1 – iT(1) – and a pulsation is precisely that iTs express sound durations while pulsations do not. This is because the iTs contribute sound content to the composition, while the pulsations define its structure through the original velocity.
If a segment has a length of 10 pulsations we can choose any beat from pulse 0 to pulse 10 to place sounds on them. When starting from pulse 0, the length of the segment coincides with the number of the last pulse, as shown in the following graph with absolute numbering. The example combines iT of different durations: iT(1), iT(2), iT(4).
THE TEMPORAL INTERVAL WITH FRACTIONING
When we fractionate the pulsations of a segment, the unit of the temporal interval – iT(1) – is altered, expanding or contracting according to the fraction applied. In the following example, we use iT(1) four times, and each time the corresponding duration or distance is different. This is due to the punctual fraction we have applied to the segment, which varies the original pulsations and therefore the iTs as well.
THE TEMPORAL INTERVAL WITH BARS
When we apply abar, although the numbering of the pulses becomes modular, their positions remain the same and, therefore, the temporal intervals do not change.
audio
audio
|
We can also apply bars to a segment with fractioning. As before, this does not affect the value of the temporal intervals.