Holographic Composition Technique
Idin Samimi Mofakham
In the area of photography, the term Hologram is defined as: “a three-dimensional image reproduced from a pattern of interference produced by a split coherent beam of radiation.” Referring the statement presented above to the genre of music, our closest explanation for the Hologram can be the phenomenon of combination tones (combination tones are the ghost sounds, which are produced in the inner ear by playing two different tones simultaneously).
Holographic Composition Technique is a term I have made for my compositional path. It is a technique being based on two main subjects in music that interest me the most: psychoacoustics, and the world of microtonality, specially the world of just intonation and non-western tuning systems.
As a person fascinated by physics and mathematics, both psychoacoustics and microtonality are very attractive source of inspiration.
My interest in microtonality lies in all possible approaches to it: different temperament systems , “just intonation” techniques, non-octave divisions or the “traditional non-Western” practices. Still, my focus will stay on Iranian microtonality, especially on the tuning systems written by Persian physicians and polymaths between 9th to 15th century, like Mansour Zalzal (9th century), Al-Farabi (10th century), Avicenna (10th century), Safi al-Din al-Urmawi (13th century) and Abd al-Qadir al-Maraghi (14th century).
The main goal of this research is to combine psychoacoustics & medieval Iranian tuning systems, to reach to a very unique and yet new sounding world, which in my opinion can be called as the fusion of Orient and Occident.
Read more at The Norwegian Academy of Music
The project will be documented on the Research Catalogue.