Acousmatic music

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Acousmatic music (from Greek ἄκουσμα akousma, "a thing heard") is a form of electroacoustic
music that is specifically composed for presentation using speakers, as opposed to a live
performance. It stems from a compositional tradition that dates back to the introduction of
musique concrète (a form of musique expérimentale)[1] in the late 1940s. Unlike musical works
that are realised using sheet music exclusively, compositions that are purely acousmatic (in
listening terms) often exist solely as fixed media audio recordings.

The compositional practice of acousmatic music features acousmatic sound as a central musical
aspect. Other aspects traditionally thought of as 'musical' such as melody, harmony, rhythm,
metre may be present but more often consideration is given to sound-based characteristics such
as timbre and spectrum. Compositional materials can include sounds derived from musical
instruments, voice, electronically generated sound, audio that has been manipulated using
various effect processors, as well as general sound effects and field recordings.

The music is produced with the aid of various music technologies, such as digital recorders,
digital signal processing tools and digital audio workstations. 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 sound organisation: a term
first used by the French composer Edgard Varèse.[2]

Contents

1 Origins

2 Developments

3 Style

4 Performance practice

5 The acousmatic experience

6 References

7 Further reading

8 External links

Origins

According to certain historical accounts the origin of the term acousmatic can be traced back to
Pythagoras; the philosopher is believed to have tutored his students from behind a screen so as
not to let his presence distract them from the content of his lectures. Under these conditions the
listener focuses on the sounds being produced to heighten the sense of hearing. In 1955, Jérôme
Peignot and Pierre Schaeffer were the first to use the term acousmatique to define the listening
experience of musique concrète.[3] It is said to be derived from akousmatikoi, the outer circle of
Pythagoras' disciples who only heard their teacher speaking from behind a veil. In a similar way,
one hears acousmatic music from behind the 'veil' of loudspeakers, without seeing the source of
the sound.[4]

Developments

Within academia the term acousmatic music, or acousmatic art,[5][6] has 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.[7] Scruton defines the experience of sound as inherently acousmatic, as Lydia Goehr
(1999) 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. We are as likely to hear the sounds of a bird, or of a factory as we are the sounds of
a violin. The technology involved transcends the mere reproduction of sounds. Techniques of
synthesis and sound processing are employed which may present us with sounds that are
unfamiliar and that may defy clear source attribution. Acousmatic compositions may present us
with familiar musical events: chords, melodies and rhythms which are easily reconcilable with
other forms of music, but may equally present us with events which cannot be classified within
such a traditional taxonomy.[9]

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 real-time
using a computer. The sound material will then be distributed spatially, via multiple
loudspeakers, using a practice known as diffusion. The work is often diffused by the composer (if
present) but the role of interpreter can also be assumed by another practitioner of the art. To
provide a guideline for spatialisation of the work by an interpreter, many composers provide a
diffusion score; in its simplest form this might be a graphic representation of the acousmatic
work with indications for spatial manipulations, relative to a time-line.[10]

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." [11]

References

Palombini, C. (1998), "Pierre Schaeffer, 1953: towards an Experimental Music', an exegesis of

Schaeffer's 'Vers une musique expérimentale', Music & Letters 74 (4): 542--57, Oxford University
Press.

Ouellette, Fernand (1973), Edgard Varèse, London: Calder and Boyars. ISBN 978-0-7145-0208-3

Peignot, J. (1960), De la musique concrète à l'acousmatique, Esprit, No. 280. Paris: Esprit: 111-
123.

Schaeffer, Pierre (1966), Traité des objets musicaux, Paris: Éditions du Seuil. OCLC 301664906

Dufour, D. (1989), "Peu importe le son", Le Son des musiques, Symposium Ina-GRM and France-
Culture, Paris: Ina-GRM/Buchet-Chastel.

Dhomont, F. (1996), "Is there a Quebec sound", Organised Sound, 1(1), Cambridge University
Press.

McFarlane, M.W. (2001). "The Development of Acousmatics in Montréal", eContact!, 6.2,

Journal of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community, Montreal.
Bauer, Amy. "'Tone-Color, Movement, Changing Harmonic Planes': Cognition, Constraints, and
Conceptual Blends in Modernist Music", in Ashby, Arved Mark (ed.) (2004), The Pleasure of
Modernist Music. University of Rochester Press. ISBN 978-0-8153-3000-4

Windsor, W.L. (1995). "A Perceptual Approach to the Description and Analysis of Acousmatic
Music", Ph. D Thesis, City University Department of Music, September 1995, Sheffield.

Emmerson, Simon (2007). "Living Electronic Music", Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-
7546-5546-6

Cox, Christopher and Warner, Daniel. Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music Continuum
Books (2002).

Further reading

Austin, Larry, and Denis Smalley. "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, and Daniel Warner. Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music Continuum
Books (2002). collection of articles, many from The Wire. ISBN 978-0-8264-1615-5.

Desantos, Sandra, Curtis Roads, and François Bayle. “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. "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. 107–26.

Truax, Barry. “Composition and Diffusion: Space in Sound in Space.” Organised Sound 3/2
(August 1998) “Sound in Space,” pp. 141–46.

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. Template:978-3-7186-5847-3. Ebook

reprint 2016 ISBN 978-1-1343-7333-8
External links

Stanza di Suono/ Room of Sound.

Categories: Electronic musicMusic technologyExperimental music genres

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