A Consideration of the Code of Computer Music as Writing, and Some Thinking on Analytical Theories

Abstract

This article focuses on the analysis of computer music, that is, music which uses programming languages so that what the listener hears is the result of computer code. One key point in this article is that this music exists with some writing, that is, the computer code. I note that this key point has not been addressed in the latest theories for analysing computer music. Indeed, we often see this music as part of the electroacoustic field, where the audio signal is essential, and where we usually read that those musics are non-written music. After an introduction on this topic, in the second section I will make a distinction between ‘before the signal’ and ‘from the signal’ to organise the theories to analyse electroacoustic music. In the third section, I will focus on computer music and I will show the historical difficulty in considering ‘code’ in musical analysis, mainly with an important exchange between two pioneers, Marco Stroppa and Jean-Claude Risset. In the fourth section I will explain with Jean-Claude Risset and Horacio Vaggione the specificity of computer music: this music is written. Finally, I will look into a recent analysis theory, the Interactive Aural Analysis by Michael Clarke, which seems to fit with the latter specificity.