[microsound] musical structure

[Robin Parmar]

David Powers wrote:

> In fact I find Xanakis and Roads to be useful but
> extremely limited theoretically in terms of
> understanding music in general. Both concentrate
> on very narrow, particular subsets of musical
> practice rather than providing any kind of account of
> musical practice in general.

All they set out to do is describe and formalise practice in stochastic music and microsound respectively. I do not think either attempts a general understanding of music, nor would I personally find such an approach that useful.

> I would be interested to learn more on
> Schaeffer's theories if you care to explain them.

I am hardly the expert you need, since I have not read the work either. Apparently a translation is in process. I hazard that a good deal of it seems to be concerned with a formal typography of sonic material.

If you are more interested in philosophical models then examine Schaeffer's four listening modes, which come about through two phenomenological reductions. The first is the "acousmatic reduction" that separates a sound object from its origin. The second is the process of "reduced listening", a close attention to a sound object designed to uncover its "essence".

I position my work in opposition to this teleological pursuit. Thus it has been important for me to discover exactly what it entails.

None of this seems to have much to do with musical structure, however!

-- Robin Parmar