Acousmatic music
Acousmatic music (from
The compositional practice of acousmatic music features
The music is produced with the aid of various music technologies, such as digital recorders, digital signal processing tools, digital audio workstations, or analog means such as tape recorders or turntables. Using such technology various sound materials can be combined, juxtaposed, and transformed in any conceivable manner. In this context the compositional method can be seen as a process of what Edgard Varèse termed "sound organisation".[2]
Origins
According to certain historical accounts, the origin of the term acousmatic can be traced back to
Developments
Within academia the terms of acousmatic music and acousmatic art have gained common usage, particularly when referring to contemporary musique concrète; however, there is some dispute as to whether acousmatic practice relates to a style of composition or a way of listening to sound.[5][6][7] Scruton defines the experience of sound as inherently acousmatic: as Lydia Goehr paraphrases, "the sound world is not a space into which we can enter; it is a world we treat at a distance".[8]
Style
Acousmatic music may contain sounds that have recognizably musical sources, but may equally present recognizable sources that are beyond the bounds of traditional vocal and instrumental technology. The technology involved transcends the mere reproduction of sounds. Techniques of
Performance practice
Acousmatic compositions are sometimes presented to audiences in concert settings that are often indistinguishable from acoustic recitals, albeit without performers. In an acousmatic concert the sound component is produced using pre-recorded media, or generated in
The acousmatic experience
In acousmatic music, listeners are challenged to distinguish sounds, not based on their source, but by their sonic quality. As Pierre Schaeffer writes in his Treatise on Musical Objects "The concealment of the causes does not result from a technical imperfection, nor is it an occasional process of variation: it becomes a precondition, a deliberate placing-in-condition of the subject. It is toward it, then, that the question turns around; "what am I hearing?... What exactly are you hearing" -in the sense that one asks the subject to describe not the external references of the sound it perceives but the perception itself."[12]
That music is acousmatic is determined more by how it is listened to, than by whether it is being played from a loudspeaker or not. In understanding the term 'acousmatic' appropriately, it is necessary to distinguish clearly between sound source and sound identity.[13]
Acousmatic music can be said to be that which calls for the listener to perceive sound with reduced or no sensibility to the sound's identity. The listening mode is oriented instead upon more abstract timbral than mimetic aspects of the sound. Pierre Schaeffer has referred to this as écoute réduite (reduced or narrowed-down listening). It can be said that an écoute réduite leads to the perception of music as acousmatic, in the sense that playing sounds from loudspeakers has the potential for obscuring their identity, as the visual reference is removed.[14]
See also
References
- ^ Palombini, Carlos (1998), "Pierre Schaeffer, 1953: towards an Experimental Music', an exegesis of Schaeffer's 'Vers une musique expérimentale', Music & Letters 74 (4): 542–557, Oxford University Press.
- ISBN 978-0-7145-0208-3
- ^ Peignot, Jérôme (1960), De la musique concrète à l'acousmatique, Esprit, No. 280. Paris: Esprit: 111–123.
- OCLC 301664906
- ^ Dufour, Denis (1989), "Peu importe le son", Le Son des musiques, Symposium Ina-GRM and France-Culture, Paris: Ina-GRM/Buchet-Chastel.
- ^ Dhomont, Francis (1996), "Is there a Quebec sound", Organised Sound, 1(1), Cambridge University Press.
- ^ McFarlane, Matthew W. (2001). "The Development of Acousmatics in Montréal", eContact!, 6.2, Journal of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community, Montreal.
- ISBN 978-0-8153-3000-4
- ^ Windsor, W. Luke (1995). "A Perceptual Approach to the Description and Analysis of Acousmatic Music", PhD Thesis, City University Department of Music, September 1995, Sheffield.
- ISBN 978-0-7546-5546-6
- S2CID 7805124.
- ^ Cox, Christopher; Warner, Daniel. Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music Continuum Books (2002).
- OCLC 301664906
- ^ Schaeffer, Pierre (1966). Traité des objets musicaux. Le Seuil.
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Further reading
- Austin, Larry; Smalley, Dennis. "Sound Diffusion in Composition and Performance: An Interview with Denis Smalley". Computer Music Journal 24/2 (Summer 2000), pp. 10–21.
- Chion, Michel. Guide des objets sonores, Pierre Schaeffer et la recherche musicale. Ina-GRM/Buchet-Chastel, Paris, 1983. (in French)
- Cox, Christopher; Warner, Daniel. Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music Continuum Books (2002). collection of articles, many from The Wire. ISBN 978-0-8264-1615-5.
- Desantos, Sandra; Roads, Curtis; Bayle, François. “Acousmatic Morphology: An Interview with François Bayle.” Computer Music Journal 21/3 (Fall 1997), pp. 11–19.
- Dhomont, Francis. "Rappel acousmatique / Acousmatic Update". eContact! 8/2 (Spring 1995).
- McFarlane, Matthew W. "The Development of Electroacoustics in Montréal". eContact! 6/2 — "Activités électroacoustiques au Québec / Electroacoustic Activities in Quebec" (Fall 2003).
- Smalley, Denis. "Space-form and the Acousmatic Image". Organised Sound 12/1 (April 2007) “Practice, process and æsthetic reflection in electroacoustic music,” pp. 35–58.
- Smalley, Denis. “Spectromorphology: Explaining Sound-Shapes.” Organised Sound 2/2 (August 1997) “Frequency Domain,” pp. 107–126.
- Truax, Barry. “Composition and Diffusion: Space in Sound in Space.” Organised Sound 3/2 (August 1998) “Sound in Space,” pp. 141–146.
- Windsor, W. Luke. “A Perceptual Approach to the Description and Analysis of Acousmatic Music.” Unpublished doctoral thesis. London: City University, 2005.
- Wishart, Trevor. On Sonic Art. London: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 978-1-1343-7333-8
External links