Acousmatic sound
Acousmatic sound is sound that is heard without an originating cause being seen. The word acousmatic, from the French acousmatique, is derived from the
Origins
In 1955,
Schaeffer derived the word acousmatique from akousmatikoi (hearers), a term used in the time of Pythagoras to refer to his uninitiated students. According to historical records followers of Pythagoras underwent a three-year probationary period, directly followed by a five-year period of "silence", before being admitted to Pythagoras' inner circle as mathêmatikoi (learned). The use of silence related to the protocols of rituals connected with the mystery-like instruction and religious ceremonies of the Pythagorean order. These ceremonies took place behind a veil or curtain with only those who had passed the five-year test being allowed to see their teacher face to face; the remaining students partaking acousmatically.[7][8][9] More recent research suggests that the Pythagorean "veil" itself was a euphemism for the figurative language with which Pythagoras taught, and the actual practice of speaking occluded by either a veil or the dark likely never occurred.[10]
Musique concrète
Film sound
According to the French film sound theorist Michel Chion (1994), in cinema, the acousmatic situation can arise in two different ways: the source of a sound is seen first and is then "acousmatized", or the sound is initially acousmatic with the source being revealed subsequently. The first scenario allows association of a sound with a specific image from the outset, Chion calls this visualised sound (what Schaeffer referred to as direct sound). In this case it becomes an "embodied" sound, "identified with an image, demythologized, classified". In the second instance the sound source remains veiled for some time, to heighten tension, and is only later revealed, a dramatic feature that is commonly used in mystery and suspense based cinema; this has the effect of "de-acousmatizing" the initially hidden source of the sound (Chion 1994, 72). Chion states that "the opposition between visualised and acousmatic provides a basis for the fundamental audiovisual notion of offscreen space" (Chion 1994, 73).
See also
References
- ^ Schaeffer, P. (1966), Traité des objets musicaux, Le Seuil, Paris.
- ^ Dufour, D. (1989), "Peu importe le son", Le Son des musiques, Symposium Ina-GRM and France Culture, publishing Ina-GRM/Buchet-Chastel, Paris
- ^ Chion, M. (1994), Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen, Columbia University Press.
- ^ Smalley, D. (2007), Space-form and the acousmatic image, Organised Sound: Vol. 12, No. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 35-58.
- ^ Peignot, J. (1960), De la musique concrète à l'acousmatique, Esprit, No. 280. Paris: Esprit: 111-123.
- ^ Kane, B. (2007), L’Objet Sonore Maintenant: Pierre Schaeffer, sound objects and the phenomenological reduction, Organised Sound 12(1): 15-24, Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Boas, G. (1953), Ancient Testimony to Secret Doctrines, The Philosophical Review, Vol. 62, No. 1 (Jan.), Duke University Press, pp. 79-92 (p90).
- ^ Minar, E.L. (1944), Pythagorean Communism,Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 75, pp. 34-46 (p39).
- ^ Kahn, C.H. (2001), Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: A Brief History, Hackett Publishing Co., Indianapolis.
- ^ Kane, Brian (2014). Sound Unseen: Acousmatic Sound in Theory and Practice. Oxford University Press. pp. 45–72.
External links
- Chion, Michel. “Acousmatic Sound.” FilmSound. Excerpted from Chion's Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen.
- Dhomont, Francis. “L’écriture acousmatique: Rappels et questionnements[permanent dead link].” eContact! 12.4 — Perspectives on the Electroacoustic Work / Perspectives sur l'œuvre électroacoustique (August 2010). Montréal: CEC.
- McFarlane, Matthew. “The Development of Acousmatics in Montréal eContact! 6.2 — Activités électroacoustiques au Québec / Electroacoustic Activities in Quebec (Fall 2003). Montréal: CEC.
- Windsor, W. Luke. “A Perceptual Approach to the Description and Analysis of Acousmatic Music.” Unpublished doctoral thesis. London: City University, 1995.