The Analysis of Electroacoustic Music: from sources to invariants

Abstract

The musicologist is confronted with many situations during the analysis of electroacoustic music, whether on support media, mixed, or real-time. Musical genres and styles vary greatly, and the collection of electronic musical instruments has also proven to be very heterogeneous. The intrinsic characteristics of the electroacoustic parts and their scoring create serious limitations. Furthermore, many sources remain inaccessible or are already lost. Thus the preoccupation with documentary sources related to the acts of creation, interpretation, and technological context becomes more and more pressing. It is now essential to formulate a synthetic vision of this music, which has existed for half a century, and to pursue the search for invariants. This work must be based on a rigorous methodology that has yet to be developed. More generally speaking, the goal is to establish the terms and conditions of a systematic musicology of electroacoustics.