Pyramid tala

Matt Davies, and Alex McLean

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

A collaboration between a live coder and drummer, focussed on exploring the "pyramid tala" introduced by celebrated mridangam player B C Manjunath. This rhythmic cycle consists of inter-onset intervals (IOIs) of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, adding up to a total of fifteen beats. This exploration will be explicitly algorithmic, in the sense of taking a systematic approach to improvisation, combining and transforming elements to create complex wholes from simple parts. This algorithmic theme will be developed not only through code, but through direct manipulation of physical playing via instrumental and vocal 'konnakol' patterns.

Citation

Matt Davies, and Alex McLean. 2026. Pyramid tala. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20782040 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_music_5,
 abstract = {A collaboration between a live coder and drummer, focussed on exploring the "pyramid tala" introduced by celebrated mridangam player B C Manjunath. This rhythmic cycle consists of inter-onset intervals (IOIs) of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, adding up to a total of fifteen beats. This exploration will be explicitly algorithmic, in the sense of taking a systematic approach to improvisation, combining and transforming elements to create complex wholes from simple parts. This algorithmic theme will be developed not only through code, but through direct manipulation of physical playing via instrumental and vocal 'konnakol' patterns.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {5},
 author = {Matt Davies and Alex McLean},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20782040},
 editor = {Lia Mice and Nicole Robson and Tara Pattenden},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {Live Performance},
 numpages = {2},
 pages = {15--16},
 title = {Pyramid tala},
 track = {Music},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_music_5.pdf},
 urlsuppl1 = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_music_5_file01.mp3},
 year = {2026}
}