Dissertation Index



Author: Windsor, Luke W.

Title: A Perceptual Approach to the Description and Analysis of Acousmatic Music

Institution: City University, London

Begun: October 1991

Completed: September 1995

Abstract:

Chapter 1 offers a critique of existing theories which purport to form the basis for the description of acousmatic music. It is concluded that there is a need for a descriptive, perceptual theory of acousmatic music, a theory which is able to respond not only to the intrinsic structures concentrated on by traditional notation and music theory but also to the extrinsic structures within which acousmatic works are situated. Chapter 2 presents a review of work in ecological acoustics which provides a theoretical framework within which the relationship between the work and its surroundings might be explored. This framework is extended to apply to the perception of culture, society and art and a preliminary musical analysis is offered which applies this theoretical approach. Chapter 3 develops and extends the theoretical position developed through a detailed analysis of Mi Bmol by Yves Daoust and a number of shorter analyses. Chapter 4 forms both a conclusion to the preceding chapters and a cultural critique of the theoretical position they develop. A number of observations are drawn regarding acousmatic music's position within contemporary culture and some general conclusions are reached regarding the relationships between composition and listening, and between perceptual and musical research.

Keywords: Acousmatic, electroacoustic, analysis, perception, aesthetics, ecological, critique, mimesis, Adorno, Gibson

TOC:

Chapter 1: Towards a perceptual theory of acousmatic music
Chapter 2: An ecological approach to acousmatic music
Chapter 3: Analysing acousmatic music within its ecological context
Chapter 4: Acousmatic music, aesthetics and society

Contact:

Dr Luke Windsor
Department of Music
University of Leeds
Leeds
LS2 9JT
UK
Phone: +44 (0)113 233 2603
Fax: +44 (0)113 233 2586
E-mail: W.L.Windsor@leeds.ac.uk


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