Electroacoustic Music Overview and Terminology by Mikel Kuehn

Electroacoustic Music (EA Music): Electroacoustic music is a broad term that describes music produced in-whole or in-part
through electronic means. While the term electroacoustic music could be used to describe the simple playback of a prerecorded
string quartet, as one example, it has largely replaced the generic (and often misleading) label electronic music.

Musique Concrte (Concrete Music): A form of electroacoustic music that utilizes acousmatic sound [see acousmatic music]
as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instru-
ments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as musical (melody, harmony, rhythm, metre and so on). The theoretical
underpinnings of the aesthetic were developed by Pierre Schaeffer [(1910-95)], beginning in the late 1940s.1 (see Schaeffer, 1952).
The term is associated closely with Schaeffers work at the Radiodiffusion-Tlvision Franaise (RTF) in Paris. Cinq tudes de
bruits (Five Noise Studies), by Schaeffer is the first official piece composed in the genre. In 1951, Schaeffer and others founded the
Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrte along with the first main electroacoustic music studio (Club dEssai) (Test Club).
In 1958 Schaeffer reigned-in the aesthetics of the former group into the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM), which led to a
particular focus on musique acousmatique. Much of the work done at GRM was focused on creating music using Schaeffers musi-
cal philosophy and methodology as documented in his treatise, la recherche dune musique concrte (In Search of a Concrete Music).
Composer Franois Bayle directed the GRM from 1966-1997. Examples: Boulez: tudes I and II (1951), Messiaen: Timbres-dures
(1952), Stockhausen: tude (1952), Henry: Astrologie (1953), Xenakis: Orient-Occident (1960).

Elektronische Musik: In the strictest sense, this genre refers to electroacoustic music that is produced solely from synthetic means
(e.g., analog components such as oscillators). In 1951, composers Herbert Eimert and Werner Meyer-Eppler founded the Studio
for Electronic Music in Cologne, Germany at the Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR). Eimert directed the studio from 1951
until 1962 when Karlheinz Stockhausen became director. Early centers for electronic music were the NWDR as well as the
Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (est. 1958). The term has also been used more loosely to mean music that is created
using synthetic means, but may also include recorded sounds (such as Stockhausens Gesang der Jnglinge) in these works the
philosophy usually differs from that of Schaeffer and the concrte school. The term has also been frequently used to describe all
electroacoustic music but seems gradually to be being replaced by the term electroacoustic music. Examples: Stockhausen: Studie
Nr. 2 (1954), Gesang der Jnglinge (1956), Kontakte (1960); Ligeti: Glissandi (1957), Articulation (1958); Kagel: Acustica (1970).

Computer Music: Music that is created using a computer. Although it is sometimes used to describe any piece that uses a comput-
er in the composition process (even an algorithmically modeled instrumental work), it usually refers to music that is synthesized
through the computer (i.e. electronic music made with a computer). The genre of computer music, in this sense, stems from Max
Mathews and his formulation of the MusicN languages (e.g., Music5 and Csound) at Bell Labs in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Example: Xenakis: Mycenae alpha (1978).

Acousmatic Music (Musique acousmatique): A term coined by Schaeffer, and taken from Pythagorus. In this genre, which stems
from Musique concrte but is usually created via computers or digital technology, a work has the following attributes: it is con-
tained on a fixed medium (such as a CD), can use any sound as the source, and is delivered to the listener through loudspeakers
(many times it is diffused over multiple speakers). Example: Jonty Harrison: Unsound Objects (1995).

Tape Music (Fixed Media): A term applying to any type of electroacoustic music for which the performance exists on the medium
of magnetic tape. While it describes the technical aspects of musique concrte, it is a broader term devoid of particular aesthetic as-
sociations. Since the 1990s, when magnetic tape began to be retired for more modern mediums, the term has continued to be used
in many circles to describe electroacoustic music that exists solely on a fixed medium (such as a CD or hard drive). Today, the term
is still sometimes used for fixed medium music but is being replaced by other, more specific, labels (such as fixed media) or the
broadest term, electroacoustic music or electroacoustics. In the U.S., early pieces of tape music were created in 1952 by Otto
Leuning and Vladimir Ussachevsky (founders of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center). Example: Varse: Pome
lectronique.

Multi-Channel Electroacoustic Music: Refers to electroacoustic music that is composed for more than one channel of audio.
While stereo is technically multiple channels, the term usually refers to music that is composed for more than 2 channels, typically
4 or 8 channels. These works are usually designed to be played back over multiple speaker configurations with specific spatial at-
tributes (e.g., channels to be placed in discrete physical spaces such as behind, to the sides, above, under, or distant-to the listener
via sets of loud-speakers). Example: Gesang der Jnglinge (1956) (original 5-channel version).

Interactive; Live, Interactive; Live Electronics; or Real-Time Electroacoustic Music: These terms apply to music that has an inter-
active electroacoustic component or employs real-time processing of sound. Usually this involves the performers interaction with
the computer, electroacoustic hardware, or another performer that is controlling aspects of the performance electronically. One
early example is Stockhausens Mikrophonie I (1964) for tam-tam and live electronics.

Instrument(s) Plus Electroacoustics (Instruments Plus): Denotes electroacoustic music that is paired with a live instrumental
performer. While plenty of examples exist internationally, this genre has a long lineage in American music, going back to the
earliest electroacoustic works such as Varese Deserts (1954) for tape and large ensemble, Ussachevskys A Poem In Cycles And Bells
(1954) for tape and orchestra, Davidovskys Synchronisms series (1962-), and Babbitts Philomel (1964) for soprano and tape.

1. Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musique_concr%C3%A8te. Accessed 9/13/10..

Visual Music: A genre of electroacoustic music that includes an equal combination of visual image and sound. Although this
genre has roots that go back to the turn of the century, the term usually refers to works that are created digitally and combine
animation/film/moving images with music. The work of Montreal-based visual artist Jean Detheux and composer/animator
Dennis Miller are good modern examples.

Sound Diffusion: The technique of propagating sound through a performance space (usually in real-time but this can also be
pre-composed), describing the performance of electroacoustic music that is designed to be spatialized. Early examples stem
from Stockhausen, Varese, and Xenakis. It is a practice that has become particularly important in the genre of acousmatic music.
Example diffusion systems are the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST, England) and the Acousmonium (GRM,
France).

Spectromorphology: Denis Smalleys term for the way sounds interact over time with regard to their spectral (frequency) con-
tent (see Smalley, 1997).

Stochastic Music: Music with a mathematical basis in statistics and probability theory (as well as other branches of math). Typi-
cally a composition in this genre is created via a computer program or computer generated material/models (the result can be
purely acoustic in addition to electroacoustic). The main pioneer was Iannis Xenakis (see Xenakis, 1992). Examples: Xenakis
works Achorripsis (1957), GENDY3 (1991), and the ST series of works (ST stands for stochastic).

Text-Sound Composition: A specific genre in electroacoustic music referring to a work that uses only the human voice as its
source material. Usually this source is a reading of text that is manipulated in a musique concrte style. Example: Berio: Tema:
Omaggio a Joyce).

Radiophonic Composition: electroacoustic music composed with a program or dramatic elements, usually acousmatic music
meant for stereo broadcast performance.

Sound Installation: A genre of electroacoustic music that is meant for non-concert performance. Usually installations are meant
to create an experience more akin to a museum viewing where the listener is free to experience the work on their own terms in
part or in its entirety. Therefore, it is common for this genre to have an interactive component and the works temporal structure
is usually non-linear or loop based.

Soundscape Composition: A genre of electroacoustic music that utilizes recognizable environmental sounds or familiar sonic
contexts. These works often evoke personal associations or memories of the listener through the use of the sonic environment.

IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique): A center for the research and creation of acoustic and
electroacoustic music. Located in Paris and founded in 1977, it was directed for many years by Pierre Boulez. IRCAM has been
central to the development of electroacoustic music (especially that of real-time electroacoustic music) and many composers
(most notably the Spectral School of composers Grisey, Murail, et al as well as composers such as Saariaho, Leroux, Hurel,
Manoury, and many others).

RCA Mark-II Synthesizer: The first programmable synthesizer, created by RCA and funded by a Rockefeller Foundation grant
installed at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (New York City) in 1958. Many important American works
were composed using the synthesizer including Milton Babbitts Philomel and some of the source material for several of Mario
Davidovskys Synchronisms. (It was vandalized in the early 1980s and is no longer in service.)

Csound: An outgrowth of the MusicN languages (e.g., Music 4, Music 360 developed and/or inspired by Max Mathews at
Bell Labs in the late 1950s/early 1960s). Created by Barry Vercoe in 1986 at MIT, Csound (and its predecessors) is a software
synthesis language (SSL) for creating electroacoustic music on a computer. It can emulate analog components (oscillators, filters,
etc.) and implements newer technologies such as wave-shaping, FM synthesis, and FFTs (Fast Fourier Transforms) used in spec-
tral processing and analysis. Csound is still used today and is open source software!

Max/MSP: A software synthesis language created in the late 1980s and 1990s by Miller Puckette at IRCAM in Paris (see Csound
and IRCAM). Max is the primary application used today for composers creating interactive music (in addition to other forms of
electroacoustic music). PD (Pure Data) is a very similar software synthesis language that is open source (and was also created by
Miller Puckette).

Super Collider: A software synthesis language released in 1996 by James McCartney for real-time audio synthesis and algorith-
mic composition. Similar to aspects of Csound, Max/MSP, and PD.

References/Further Reading:
Collins, Nick, Margaret Schedel and Scott Wilson. Electronic Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Dodge, Charles and Thomas A. Jerse. Computer Music: Synthesis, Composition, and Performance. Wadsworth Pub. Co, 1997. Chapter 11.
Manning, Peter. Electronic and Computer Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Roads, Curtis. The Computer Music Tutorial. Cambridge, MA: M I T Press, 1996. Chapter 19.
Schaeffer, Pierre. la recherche dune musique concrte. Paris, ditions du Seuil, 1952.
Smalley, Denis. 1997. Spectromorphology: Explaining Sound-Shapes. Organized Sound vol. 2, no. 2:10726. rev. 2014
Xenakis, Iannis. Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition. Stuyvesant: Pendragon Press, 1992.