Parag Kumar Mital

Terry Riley
In C

Performing Directions:

All performers play from the same page of 53 melodic patterns played in sequence. Any number of any kind of instruments can play. A group of about 35 is desired if possible but smaller or larger groups will work. If vocalist(s) join in they can use any vowel and consonant sounds they like.

Patterns are to be played consecutively with each performer having the freedom to determine how many times he or she will repeat each pattern before moving on to the next. There is no fixed rule as to the number of repetitions a pattern may have, however, since performances normally average between 45 minutes and an hour and a half, it can be assumed that one would repeat each pattern from somewhere between 45 seconds and a minute and a half or longer.

It is very important that performers listen very carefully to one another and this means occasionally to drop out and listen. As an ensemble, it is very desirable to play very softly as well as very loudly and to try to diminuendo and crescendo together.

Each pattern can be played in unison or canonically in any alignment with itself or with its neighboring patterns. One of the joys of IN C is the interaction of the players in polyrhythmic combinations that spontaneously arise between patterns. Some quite fantastic shapes will arise and disintegrate as the group moves through the piece when it is properly played.

It is important not to hurry from pattern to pattern but to stay on a pattern long enough to interlock with other patterns being played. As the performance progresses, performers should stay within 2 or 3 patterns of each other. It is important not to race too far ahead or to lag too far behind.

The ensemble can be aided by the means of an eighth note pulse played on the high c’s of the piano or on a mallet instrument. It is also possible to use improvised percussion in strict rhythm (drum set, cymbals, bells, etc.), if it is carefully done and doesn’t overpower the ensemble. All performers must play strictly in rhythm and it is essential that everyone play each pattern carefully. It is advised to rehearse patterns in unison before attempting to play the piece, to determine that everyone is playing correctly.

WHY? someone brilliant once asked me…

From chaos comes order. Seemingly random, yet actually probable.

A model for the stock market perhaps?

Ever see the film PI? I’m a few steps from trephaning.

So how does this relate? To model reality in a computer, formulas, probability distributions, sequences, data, etc… are needed. To recreate reality, a Grand Unified Theory if you will, is needed. Baby steps.

Taken from the GEB, a dialogue by J. M. Jauch called “Are Quanta Real?“:

SALVATI: Suppose I give you two sequences of numbers, such as
7 8 5 3 9 8 1 6 3 3 9 7 4 4 8 3 0 9 6 1 5 6 6 0 8 4
and
1, -1/3, +1/5, -1/7, +1/9, -1/11, +1/13, …

If I asked you, Simplicio, What the next number of the first sequence is, what would you say?

Simplicio cannot say what the first sequence is but obviously can for the second. The first however, is in fact constructed by law. Even more bizarre is that there is a direct correlation between these two sequences. That is, the first sequence is the decimal expansion of the summation of the second (pi/4).

Alot of this can be summed up in what Computer Scientists try to achieve in creating Virtual Reality. In goes for all research, but Computer Science is very a tangible example. Consider the world around you, and then, consider the Matrix. It was a brilliant concept that accurately understood the thesis behind a Computer Mentality or Computer Reality. In a friend’s research, they said that we would one day look at our television and the reality tv shows we see would be indistinguishable from Computer Graphics. This goes for everything in reality though and not just still frames of graphics. The motion, lighting, sound, language, semantics, physics, biology, chemistry, etc…

Will we ever understand the world enough to create a synthetic model? Are we already in a synthetic world? What is reality to you? to a Christian? to God? to a cat? Does a cat percieve the same world? Will my cat ever understand what a shadow is? Will Lucky Larry get his money? Will I ever fall asleep?

Parag.