Mountain, Rosemary

2004a

Theories Market: Open for Trading

Organised Sound: Vol. 9 no. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 15-26.

URL: http://journals.cambridge.org/jid_OSO

Language(s): English

Keyword(s):

Aural Analysis Music Education Gesture Digital Aesthetics Perception Texture Timbre Semiotics ,  Genres and Categories [G&C] ,  History of Electroacoustic Music

Abstract:

Challenging the usual acceptance of electroacoustics as a distinct field of its own, this article leads the reader through a series of paths to show the extent to which concerns and techniques of electroacoustics are shared with other musical and artistic disciplines. It continues with a similar questioning of the usual interpretation of analysis by examining the variety of aims, methods, and characteristics of analytical methods, and encourages an increased awareness on the part of all analysts to appreciate where their own work is situated within the field. Typical concerns of electroacoustics, such as the design of timbral structures, gestures and textures are discussed within the realm of parametric analysis, but allusion is also made to other approaches which examine style and context. Disciplines from perception to semiotics are shown to have relevance for further development of adequate analytical tools. The author does not advocate one particular approach, but rather attempts to demonstrate the vastness and intricacy of the field. The conclusion is that analysis of electroacoustics could both contribute to, and benefit from, analysis in other areas of music and art.

All references of the same author:

(English)

Mountain, Rosemary (2001a). Caveats from a Dyed-in-the-wool Futurist
Mountain, Rosemary (2001b). 'Sculpting' Sound: The Story of the CEC
Mountain, Rosemary (2003). Creating and Contributing. The Expensive Spirit of Marcelle Deschênes
Mountain, Rosemary (2004b). Marketing Strategies for Electroacoustics and Computer Music
Mountain, Rosemary (2004b). Marcelle Deschênes
Mountain, Rosemary (2005). The Internet: The Untended Garden