[microsound] musical structure

[David Powers]

I think that a particular culture will have both universal elements
and unique elements.

It's funny because Xenakis seems least qualified of anyone to
postulate about metamusic; his sound to me is extremely
rational-technocratic, and clearly the product of a culture obsessed
with scientific progress.

My own theories of metamusic are much more holistic/nondualistic; I am
influenced by Taoism and Buddhism from the East, Hegel, Adorno, and
Deleuze from the West, and African/Afro-American spirituality and
musical practice. I am not only concerned with formal structure, but
also improvisation, and musically induced alternative experiences of
consciousness (ritual trance).

~David

On Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 7:50 AM, Charles Turner <vze26m98 at optonline.net> wrote:
> On Sep 16, 2009, at 10:06 PM, Paulo Mouat wrote:
>
>> My mention of Xenakis
>
>> These works are culture-agnostic
>
> Not completely sure of what you mean by "culture-agnostic," but IX's essay
> "Towards a Metamusic," which appeared in the U.S. edition of _Formalized
> Music_ (1971) and after, is quite concerned with cultural processes and
> products.
>
> Also, in the 1950s "comparative musicology" was quite an important area of
> study, now largely over-taken by ethnomusicology. The comparative outlook
> held out a notion of universalism: that all the world's musics could be
> explained/accounted for in one big theory. Viewed from that context, IX and
> Schaeffer's theories aren't agnostic, but simply participated in the
> universalizing trends of their time.
>
> Best, Charles
>
>
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