TY - CHAP

T1 - Sound as Musical Material

AU - Großmann, Rolf

AU - Hanacek, Maria

PY - 2016/3

Y1 - 2016/3

N2 - It has become somewhat of a cliché to state that contemporary music production was more concerned with "sound" than notation and that traditional means of musical analysis would therefore fall short in understanding these musical practices. But, so far, little attention has been paid to what actually defines such new modes of music production, which aesthetic strategies are involved here, and, above all, what constitutes this new kind of musical material we seem to be dealing with here. This article engages with a range of already established and conventionalised practices (and sedimented strategies) of sound related composition and design, pointing out that electronic media, synthesizers and digital sound devices became an inherent part of such a kind of "musical substance".The investigation of the idea of musical material enables us to ask for lines in the tradition of designing music as sound and changing production aesthetics. It allows us to reconsider adequate methods of musical analysis and will provide a basis for a more differentiated discourse on contemporary music forms and practices.

AB - It has become somewhat of a cliché to state that contemporary music production was more concerned with "sound" than notation and that traditional means of musical analysis would therefore fall short in understanding these musical practices. But, so far, little attention has been paid to what actually defines such new modes of music production, which aesthetic strategies are involved here, and, above all, what constitutes this new kind of musical material we seem to be dealing with here. This article engages with a range of already established and conventionalised practices (and sedimented strategies) of sound related composition and design, pointing out that electronic media, synthesizers and digital sound devices became an inherent part of such a kind of "musical substance".The investigation of the idea of musical material enables us to ask for lines in the tradition of designing music as sound and changing production aesthetics. It allows us to reconsider adequate methods of musical analysis and will provide a basis for a more differentiated discourse on contemporary music forms and practices.

KW - Digital media

KW - Sound Studies

KW - music and media

KW - musictechnology

KW - Cultural Informatics

KW - Cultural studies

U2 - 10.7551/mitpress/9975.003.0009

DO - 10.7551/mitpress/9975.003.0009

M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies

SN - 9780262033909

SP - 53

EP - 64

BT - Sound as popular culture

A2 - Papenburg, Jens Gerrit

A2 - Schulze, Holger

PB - The MIT Press

CY - Cambridge

ER -