In celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Organised Sound, the author browses past issues of the journal to explore its multidisciplinary facets and potential for ‘knowledge transfer’ to cognate areas. It is pointed out that despite the journal’s apparent ‘house style’, the written texts contain subtle variations according to disciplinary concerns and author’s perspective, and should be understood as one strand of a multi-modal form of expression, to be augmented by remembered aural and bibliographic references and associated conference discussions as well as the more obvious visual and sonic accompanying material.

This article considers ideas of image and space as they apply to acousmatic music and to sound art, establishing overlaps and compatibilities which are perhaps overlooked in the current trend to consider these two genres incompatible. Two issues in particular are considered: compositional (especially mimesis and the construction of image, and what shall be termed ‘ephemeral narrative’) and presentational (in particular multichannel speaker deployment). While exploring several relevant works within this discussion, by way of a case study the article introduces the author’s GRIDs project – a series of four multichannel sound sculptures united in their arrangement in geometric arrays of many (in some cases potentially hundreds of) loudspeakers. These permit, by virtue of being so massively (and geometrically) multichannel, the generation of extremely intricate spatial sound environments – fabricated landscapes – that emerge directly from an acousmatic compositional aesthetic. Owing to their alternative means of presentation and presentation contexts, however, they offer very different experiences from those of acousmatic music encountered in the concert hall. So the latter part of this article explores the various ways in which the listener might engage with constructed image space within these sound sculptures, along with the relationship of the audio content of each with its visual and situational setup – that is, its environment.

The ever-increasing focus on sound in recent creative practices has ideological implications and seems to reframe and problematise ontological perspectives on music. Today it is possible to contrast notions of music as identical with sound (as in the discursive framework of ‘audio culture’) with artistic practices where sound and music are not at all identical, and the usually implicit hierarchy between them is probably twisted. This article discusses such matters from a methodological position that weaves together issues usually discussed in different areas of concern: it understands ecologically informed notions of sound and auditory experience as strictly intertwined with critical and inventive attitudes on technology, particularly as their intertwining is elaborated through performative practices. It suggests that, in music as well as in sound art, what we hear as sound and in sound is the dynamics of an ecology of situated and mediated actions, as a process that binds together (1) human beings (practitioners and listeners, their auditory inclinations), (2) technical agencies (the domain where means and ends are dialectically negotiated as practitioners strive to achieve a certain freedom in action across the public space of technological mediations and delegations) and (3) the environment (the physical and cultural context where sound-making and listening practices take place). The general idea is that the manners by which we shape up our relationship to sound and appropriate the technical mediations involved in working with it, are of biopolitical relevance for social endeavours that might (still) be ‘music’

In this contribution to the twentieth anniversary issue of Organised Sound, I first recall the reasons for dedicating a periodical to organised sound which I mentioned in my answer to inquiries from Cambridge University Press before the journal existed. The digital era is still in its infancy and it will permit a host of new ways to organise sound. I suggest in particular the development of an intimate relationship between acoustic and digital sounds; the extension of structural notations of sound and music and their exploitation for novel musical transformation; the amplification of the use of functions and combinations of functions. I evoke some issues discussed in Organised Sound, elaborating in more detail some problematic topics: analysis and reconstruction of computer music, live electronic music performance, perception of musical sound and sensory aesthetics.

Sound art theorists Seth Kim-Cohen and Salomé Voegelin regard the fixed conceptual structures of notation either as an obstacle to pure sensorial engagement with sound (Voegelin 2010), or as the site of arrogant musical exceptionalism (Kim-Cohen 2009). While sound, whether constituted in phenomenological or idealist terms, is evolving and dynamic, notation is characterised by its ossifying imperative (Kim-Cohen 2009; Voegelin 2010). For Voegelin, a music score is regarded as conceptual, not perceptual. It is read as text and, it seems, has no meaningful place within a phenomenological practice of sound art (Voegelin 2010). The criticism that Vogelin’s phenomenalism, in particular, levels at notation invites close examination of notational practice and the semiotic structures that underwrite it. In this article, I seek to challenge the conceptual imperative of fixed notation through the presentation of a case study in the form of an original composition for string quartet and tape. Drawing on research by Rudolf Arnheim and Mark Johnson, a form of notation will be proposed that enables the score to escape singularly semiotic structures so that it may address the dynamic, phenomenological mode of experience that recent theories of sound art imply is beyond the reach of musical notation.

At a time when tape music, which obviated the need for performers by eliminating interpretation after composition, was becoming the dominant paradigm for electronic music, John Cage, motivated by his inchoate aesthetic of indeterminacy, radically reimagined electronic music that ‘treats machines as things to perform with’. In the 1950s and 1960s, Cage employed electronic technologies in place of musical instruments in concert music, but also reframed the creation of tape music by following a score to be a performative act. Although Cage idealised a liberal approach to performance practice and maintained a modernist, utilitarian attitude towards technological progress, his actions and scores reflect allegiance to the ‘work concept’ (Goehr 1992). Twenty-first-century performers of Cage’s electronic music are challenged to address the seemingly paradoxical imperatives of technological progressivism and creative interpretation with fidelity to a work embodied in a score. This article discusses efforts to reconcile these forces in contemporary realisations using the interactive technologies of three of Cage’s classic electronic works. The development of interactive performance interfaces in response to musical requirements of a score is presented as an important but overlooked model for the development of new interfaces for musical expression.

Sound and media installations are rarely considered from a time-based, formal perspective. In order to enable a greater understanding of temporal form in sound installations, I suggest a cross-disciplinary adaptation of musical form to the installation context. Due to the differences between concert and installation presentation practices – including, but not limited to, the increased agency of the mobile visitor – I re-examine form in installation contexts as the particular temporal experience co-produced by the first-person subject as they navigate in, through and out of the work’s frame. By applying this musical perspective to macro-scale formal structures, a set of tools and concepts become available for the analysis of temporal form in existing sound or audiovisual installations. Using practice-based observation and analysis, I describe several compositional strategies through which musical concepts of material and form can be extended in space and time: each of these strategies provides means with which to shape or constrain the visitor’s co-production of experiential form. Finally, I discuss several strategies that can be used for the creation of large-scale form, with particular reference to algorithmic design principles used in my recent audiovisual installation, Room Dynamics.

As Jonty Harrison himself acknowledges, a significant body of acousmatic music exists which has, directly or indirectly, challenged aspects of the Schaefferian theory from which acousmatic music first developed (Harrison 1995). Few pieces, however, have so clearly and deliberately confronted Schaeffer’s notion of the ‘sound object’ as Harrison’s Unsound Objects. Harrison does more than merely reject Schaeffer’s definition of the sound object through the use of expanded compositional strategies. Rather, he both employs Schaeffer’s methodology and subverts it, systematically demonstrating the potential and the limitations of Schaeffer’s epoché and its product, the sound object. The result is what might be aptly termed the ‘unsound object’: a sonic entity which both demonstrates and defies Schaeffer’s ideals, and exemplifies the rich ambiguities which can arise from the compositional exploitation of referentiality and association, in addition to the intrinsic, morphological characteristics emphasised within Schaeffer’s reduced listening. Throughout his engagement with Schaefferian theory, however, Harrison never abandons the fundamental musical radicalism at the heart of Schaeffer’s project: positing ‘concrete sound material’, rather than ‘abstract concept’, as the basis for the language of electroacoustic music (Chion 1983: 37).

This article reflects on significant technological, musical and cultural processes that took place since Varèse envisioned the concept of organised sound: understanding these processes may provide a strategic vantage point from which to gain insight into our evolving attitude to modern aesthetic and technological development and thus formulate informed strategic decisions concerning our relationship with the latter. The discussion begins by focusing on technological processes, including accelerated change, cycles of enhancement, obsolescence, retrieval and reversal, and the non-neutrality of technology. This is followed by a focus on musical issues resulting from the decoupling of sound control from sound production, interactivity, the expansion towards time-based media and the possible active role of audiences in the realisation of music. Discussion is then posited within the wider cultural context of modernism and the postmodern era, the eroding popular/art divide and the obsolescence of music as a cultural artefact resulting from technological change. This leads to the conclusion, which identifies tentative learning outcomes that may be helpful in formulating future strategic decisions.

This article will, in a broad sense, discuss technology-based music from its early radio beginnings to the current participation practices, and seek to place both technical and musical development within broader trends of social development. The introduction of new technologies in industry, composition, mediation and consumption has, in a lasting manner, changed the way most of us listen to, participate in and make use of music in our daily lives. Electronic aesthetics has finally, following a development of nearly a hundred years, started to fulfil its initial promise of becoming widely accepted and popular outside of the narrow circles of musical expertise – a ‘democratic’ music unhindered by the hierarchies of the fine arts in their different configurations. But has it really fulfilled the original promise? Is it rather not so that both the music and its promise have changed over the years?

One thing is certain, our pre-adaption to aesthetic experiences has undergone extreme changes over the last twenty years or so. A paradigm shift brought about by digital media and distribution, as well as the networking of things, has directed large parts of humanity towards a new existence in the cross-section of technology and humanity, an existence where cyborgian qualities increase day by day.

This article aims to sketch a theory of sound sculpture, one that would explain the variety of forms this artistic practice might take on and define it in relation to other art forms. My hypothesis is that in order to do this we must focus on the traits of sound sculpture connecting it to music rather than on those separating the two. A useful instrument to analyse this connection is Harry Partch’s concept of corporeal music. In contrast to Western classical music, which he viewed as abstract and devoid of life, Partch envisioned a music that would emphasise the physicality of sound-making and engage the listener on a more visceral level. Investigating a number of works from all parts of the sound sculpture spectrum, I argue that all the various practices that comprise the art form present the core traits of Partch’s musical ideal (physicality of music, audience engagement, and unity of the sonic and the visual) to a substantial extent. Analysing sound sculpture in light of its connection to music brings to the fore a number of musical issues for which this new art form provides a new perspective. Among these are the agency of the composer and the listener, the function and nature of a score, as well as the role of technology in music-making. These issues, along with the general idea of corporeality of music, compose a discourse that transcends the boundaries of different subgenres of sound sculpture, allowing for theorisation of the art form as a whole.

Bayle’s aesthetic radicalism is based on a conception of a living space in which there is not an opposition of an inner space to an outer space. This idea will be discussed by looking at the morphology creation, temporal evolution and sound spatiality on François Bayle’s works. Sound events as ‘images-of-sounds’ are characterised by a philosophy of dynamic production and energy transformation which creates a space in movement. However, the organisation of time structure in Bayle’s works can be divided into three categories (discrete time, time based on independent moments and circular time) corresponding to three periods of his creative life. We can conclude that this organisation led him to realise how important the active behaviour of the listener is for the construction of space. As a result, the spatial experience does not create a constructed space but rather a subjective one in which the listener is a resonant subject with the space surrounding him.

This article puts forth the author’s views on a panorama of contemporary influences that presage the future of higher education. The author describes how these views have shaped a new curriculum and pedagogy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The process of creating computer-based music is increasingly being conceived in terms of complex chains of mediations involving composer/performer and computer software interactions that prompt us to reconsider notions of materiality within the context of digital cultures. Recent scholarship has offered particularly useful re-evaluations of computer music software in relation to musical instrumentality. In this article, we contend that given the ubiquitous presence of computer units within contemporary musical practices, it is not simply music software that needs to be reframed as musical instruments, but rather the diverse material strata of machines identified as computers that need to be thought of as instruments within music environments. Specifically, we argue that computers, regardless of their technical specifications, are not only ‘black boxes’ or ‘meta-tools’ that serve to control music software, but are also material objects that are increasingly being used in a wide range of musical and sound art practices according to an ‘analog’ rather than ‘digital’ logic. Through a series of examples implicating both soft and hard dimensions of what constitutes computers, we provide a preliminary survey of practices calling for the need to rethink the conceptual divide between analog and digital forms of creativity and aesthetics.

Following Edgard Varèse’s influential lectures – translated and documented in ‘The Liberation of Sound’ – electroacoustic music has spawned many different styles and genres. His argument was for composers to follow their imagination and not be bound to the constraints of musical notation. This, arguably, was one of the catalysts for the emergence of electroacoustic musical works. With past and recent technological advancement, the varieties of genres and styles within electroacoustic music have only expanded, challenging the notion of how one could analyse such works. It is therefore unsurprising that there is no general consensus on analytical methodologies. But for an art form that celebrates all musical possibilities should the analysis of such musics be constraint to a set number of formalised analytical methodologies?

Rather than propose a new all-encompassing methodology, this article will argue for a universal approach to electroacoustic music analysis and the liberation of sound analysis. The concept of an analytical community (a community that accepts multiple analyses whilst encouraging practitioners to find new and innovative ways to analyse such works) will be raised as a means to address the issues facing electroacoustic music analysis, using the OREMA (Online Repository for Electroacoustic Music Analysis) project as an example of such an initiative.

This article arises from the need to reflect upon the possibility of developing new ways of teaching electroacoustic music, based on the opportunities recently offered by technology and the theories about learning that have been developed in recent decades. After taking into consideration the limits of the current teaching methods, the article examines various theories and approaches that involve questioning the objectivity of the learning process, the concept of multiple intelligences, the concentration on the experience as the focal point of learning and so forth. On the basis of these reflections, and after evaluating various teaching experiences over the past twenty years, the authors make some practical proposals, without imagining a curriculum, but rather by outlining several possible activities within an organic teaching project. To this end, a software program is described and realised in which the learner is engaged through the use of an interactive game format that can be played by the individual or in a group, and that encourages the development of the capacities of analysis, perception, practical skill, knowledge, imagination and creativity.

Space is a concept central to music. Particular spaces can be seen as the enablers and analogues of social configurations for music-making. Thus, for example, concert halls, clubs or cathedrals determine significant aspects of the social and auditory presence of heard music, in terms of concepts such as proximity, separation, resonance, silence, community. Recording technologies have forced us to reconsider musical space as a much more complex phenomenon, including the possible presence of imaginary spaces. Bearing in mind Henri Lefebvre’s assertion that space must be ‘produced’, and starting from Pierre Schaeffer’s notion of spatial development, this article considers the ‘materiality’ of space and the implications of such materiality for thinking about music and sound. Taking the recent reconstruction of the Denman exponential horn at the British Science Museum as an emblem, in relation to the recent resurgence of interest in historic sound recording practices, space is considered in relation to current discussions of material culture.