Unit One provides a foundation for approaching this vast and increasingly complex (and exciting) field. We begin with definitions, terms, concepts and timelines. We are also engaged in rethinking the musical listening processes. Arguably, electroacoustic music demands new kinds of listening approaches and forces us to give up aural prejudices.
Some useful definitions and basic concepts:
Electroacoustic Music is a broad field of endeavor encompassing an ever growing number of genres. Originally, there were fewer genres and they tended to be founded upon the type of technical work engaged in by the practitioner - scientist or artist. Generally speaking, a few main genres have developed which are characterized not only by the type of material used in creating the music, but also the technical apparatus for doing so. The flowering of terms and distinctions is natural perhaps for an art form which is still young! Electronic music instruments began to appear only about 120 years ago, and the full flourishing of the art of electronic sound composition did not take off until after 1945. Yet, all electroacoustic music is unified by basic principles which are adhered to more or less rigidly depending on the particular school of thought.
Several factors are central to electronic music:
This is music created by means of electricity and the general term sometimes applied to the broad genre of electronic music. There is a potential that music referred to as electroacoustic somehow melds both electronic and acoustic sound materials. However, this is not always the case when this term is applied.
Music created by means of manipulation of recordings of naturally occurring sounds. Sounds of instruments, machines, animals and anything at all are the materials of this kind of art. A number of composers established this style of music in the 1940's in Paris. In fact, France is well known for being the birthplace of many avant-garde artistic movements. Pierre Schaeffer began what was to become a dominant "school" of thought for electroacoustic music creation. In fact, many composers working today tend to gravitate toward the creation of audio montages out of collected (sometimes referred to as "found") sounds. Originally, the natural sounds of musique concrete were variously combined used tape-splicing techniques but were left unaltered otherwise. Today the digital computer provides the splicing block and it is more common to for composers to process the sounds as they create their sonic designs. The modern sampling instruments allow composers to exert computer control over the processes of creation associated with musique concrete.
With the advent of machines which created sounds directly from electricity "electronic music" was born. The history of electronic music instruments is a complex and fascinating one. As soon as tools for creating sounds electronically were discovered or invented, composers were quick to begin to use them. Today when the uninitiated are asked about electronic music they typically can refer to the Moog Synthesizer or, perhaps the generic term "synthesizer." The concept of synthesis is obviously the key here. In electronic music sound is synthesized directly from the application of electrical voltages. Because of this, the composer is provided with a wealth of possibilities and a considerable degree of control over the sounds he or she creates. "Pure" electronic music would be that which does not rely on any acoustic sound sources but is generated entirely using synthesizers.
This is a term that is heard less often than others associated with electroacoustics. It implies a music that is made from either synthesizer or tape-based techniques (such as musique concrete) which is intended for live performance over an elaborate loudspeaker array in a concert hall. This is considered by some to be a bit oxymoronic, since one of the great accomplishments of electroacoustic music has been the liberation of musical art from the stage, church and concert hall into private listening space. Francois Bayle, a senior composer of the music concrete school in Paris created the Acousomonium in 1974 - an orchestra of loudspeakers for the presentation of tape music. There is also the background notion of acoustic sounds from instrumental resources used as the basic material for musique concrete tape composition techniques.
When the digital computer was finally established as a viable tool, innovative composers began to use it for experimentation both in composition and also in sound synthesis. The first projects with a computer involved the generation of musical gestures that were played by instrumentalists. Later, when the systems became sufficiently powerful, they started to be used for the direct synthesis of sound. Many composers have turned their attention to the computer as a general musical instrument. Processes not possible with either tape-based techniques or synthesizer techniques ARE possible with digital computers. While musique concrete and electronic music - the two dominant "schools of thought" provided a new almost unlimited palate for the avant-garde composer, the computer music paradigm (analysis, synthesis and modification of sound) presented a quantum leap. This resource has yet to be fully mastered by most composers. But, those who have paid the price to gain mastery are able to create musical works of unparalleled beauty and sophistication. Computer music tends to transcend the limitations associated with acousmatic techniques and provides for a degree of specificity and control unheard of in hardware synthesizers. This style of working is sometimes referred to as software synthesis, as all of the processes associated with computer music composition can be provided for in powerful and replete computer programs.