Audible Temporality. How Time is Structured in—and through—Music

The purpose of this research project is to investigate the ways time is understood in antiquity by reconstructing music ensembles and conducting tests using modern reproductions and replicas of selected ancient musical instruments from different regions, based on their supposed sound structures and historic performance contexts. It is assumed that ways of understanding time in musical practice, including ritual acts, are reflected in how time is structured in and through music. Time as structured by means of music can be identified in a variety of cultural practices; for example, as an aspect of festivals and processions that take place at particular times, or in incorporated performative practices (music, theater and dance performances). Clues to this structuring are portrayed in texts and images at different narrative levels. In investigating how time is structured within music, it is assumed that musical meaning is established through the temporal connection (chronicity) of musical constituents with one another. This chronicity, which characterizes a musical action or activity, makes it possible to structure units of musical experience. That structuring in turn can be studied in interactive musical practices, such as ensemble performance contexts, and especially through considering synchrony and simultaneity.