A Temporal Basis for Acousmatic Rhythm

Abstract

In an attempt to begin to redress the relative lack of literature focused on rhythm in acousmatic music, this article is intended as a brief look at the acousmatic perspective on rhythm. This begins with a quick overview of discussion around rhythm in electroacoustic music more broadly, then contrasts this with some of Pierre Schaeffer's views on rhythm, and finally compares the perceptual temporal levels identified by Schaeffer with similar levels drawn from electroacoustic music, contemporary music, and cognitive psychology.

Rhythm in Acousmatic Music

“…A consideration of acousmatic rhythm would therefore be likely to focus on these two levels, possibly extending to include level six 'Micro' and level three 'Macro'. Schaeffer confirms this in his discussion of 'duration', distinguishing between 'short', 'medium' and 'extended' durations, which we might usefully map to Roads's 'Micro' (short), 'Sound Object' & 'Meso' (medium) and 'Macro' (long) (Andean 2016).…”

Narrative Modes in Acousmatic Music

“…Thus, when acousmatic music makes use of our understanding of the world to generate narrative, much of this ability lies specifically in our embodied experience of the world (Windsor 2000). This carries forward into the work, making acousmatic listening a fundamentally embodied experience (Andean 2012). When we listen to Rumeurs , we do not stop at an objective recognition of ‘closing doors’; we can imagine, or even feel , ourselves opening and closing those doors.…”

“…This is the mode in which we listen to (or imagine that we listen to) ‘the hand of the composer’: rather than listening to the materials ‘as’ materials, we listen to their crafting and shaping; rather than engaging the mimetic mode, we listen to the tracks of the composer’s in-studio performance gestures; the embodied mode changes focus, from re-living the encoded ‘virtual’ gesture (‘a bouncing ball’) to re-living the composer’s performative gesture (e.g., hand on a controller, creating the ‘bouncing’ gesture). The description of Harrison’s …et ainsi de suite… in Andean (2014b) is a strong example of the studio narrative mode, by which the composer becomes both the ‘implied author’ (Booth 1961) and ‘protagonist’ of the work. This mode is also closely linked with Smalley’s ‘technological listening’ (Smalley 1997) and Landy’s ‘5ième écoute’ (Landy 2007).…”

“…The textual narrative mode has much in common with literary forms, and, when used in a sonic context, dramatically changes the narrative landscape – bringing a number of new or expanded narrative possibilities to the table, while diminishing the strength and capacities of others (Andean 2014b). This mode has been memorably explored by composers including Luc Ferrari, Hildegard Westerkamp and Katharine Norman.…”