Oral tradition, Written tradition, Electroacoustic tradition

by
Alessandro Cipriani

Edison Studio
Via Voghera 7, 00182 Rome
e-mail: a.cipriani@edisonstudio.it

Abstract

The principal aspects will be discussed of the hypothesis that a new tradition has come into existence which
is based on electronic technology and which overlaps both the oral and the written tradition, influencing
their evolution. An attempt is made to demonstrate that this new tradition (designated electroacoustic)
introduces modifications in the transmission and context of the repertoire and in composition, performance
and listening which are determining a change in musical conception and expression equal to that which
occurred in European musical life with the advent of the written tradition.

1. Electroacoustic tradition

The introduction and widespread use of media and electronic technology in the field of
music has influenced to a considerable extent (as we will see) the way in which music is
today composed, played, listened to, memorized and transmitted. This influence affects not
only European and American classical, contemporary and pop music but also, as Bruno
Nettl reports, the music of other cultures, i.e: Indian, Iranian, Egyptian, etc. Consequently,
I will introduce the new concept of electroacoustic tradition and demonstrate that the use
in music of the new technologies (including those of mass production, reproduction and
diffusion) cannot be dismissed as the simple utilization of a “new instrument”, since it is
bringing about a change in the conception and expression of music equal to that which
took place in European musical life with the advent of the written tradition and is therefore
revolutionising the significance of music for human beings.

2. Persistence within a tradition of the techniques of an earlier tradition

The advent of the written tradition did not entail the disappearance of the earlier oral
tradition. Goody (1987) suggests that it is not correct to divide ‘cultures’ using the
concepts of ‘written’ and ‘oral’. It would be more appropriate to say oral, and “oral plus
written” (one could add “oral plus written plus electroacoustic”), etc. The problem of
assigning a work to an oral or literate tradition is that we are not dealing with a clear-cut
division. In the first place there is the important distinction between composition and
performance, with the further possibility of having to differentiate between performance
and transmission (Goody). Similarly, the existence today of an electroacoustic tradition
does not necessarily imply the disappearence of the features and techniques of other
traditions. For example, the survival of written compositional features and customs within
the ambit of the electroacoustic tradition is widespread and the end result could therefore
be defined as an “oral plus written plus electroacoustic” context.

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 The above-mentioned survival can be compared to the survival of certain oral
compositional characteristics within the written tradition of the Middle Ages. In an
interesting article published in 1982 Leo Treitler examined the relationship between text
and music in tropes, comparing different versions of the same song in which oral and
written transmission processes had interacted. In some versions of the trope under
examination he found a more notable persistence of oral tradition features, the melody
being less differentiated within itself and less acutely responsive to the fine points of
structure and meaning in the text, proceeding more mechanically to provide an adequate
setting through the use of the conventional resources of the melodic tradition (…) while
other versions (…) are more individualised, because they have made a compositional task
of providing a closely responsive setting of their texts. He writes: Apt 17 melody is more
static, the Aquitanian melody more dynamic. The bare fact that two phrases are identical
in the two versions and two quite different is itself significant for the nature of the
transmission. It is highly characteristic for a situation in which oral and written processes
of transmission interacted. Although written models were undoubtedly at hand in the
passage of such an item from one place to another, in taking up the item for their use, the
musicians reprocessed it through the screen of local styles and standards. (...) There is no
doubt that we must learn to read the sources from this period as witnesses to a transition
in musical thought and expression from oral to literate modes, for that is surely what they
represent. The characteristics that I have thought to identify in the Apt 17 versions, and
that I have just summarized, are typically characteristics of the products of oral traditions
(...) In the age with which we are dealing here these characteristics are residues of the
habits of oral composition, which cannot be expected to have been extinguished all at once
by the introduction of writing, but only supplanted in varying degrees here and there by
new modes of composition made possible by writing. (Treitler 1982 )

We will now consider the present-day transition from writing music to electroacoustic
technologies. The widespread use of MIDI facilities (electronic keyboards, sequencers,
MIDI-oriented software, etc.), mainly based on the concept of note and of the
compositional strategies of the written tradition in the electroacoustic environment is also
an indication of the survival of the techniques of an earlier tradition within a new emerging
tradition. It would be strange if such a transitional phase had not materialized. The
question has frequently been discussed by electronic music composers in terms of “purity”;
right from the very beginning, they hoped that the use of the new technologies would lead
to an entirely new musical conception.
In this connection, however, it is worthwhile bearing in mind the following questions
which originate in historical considerations: how much time actually passed before the
inherent possibilities of the written tradition were fully developed? How long will it be
before the opportunities offered by the electroacoustic tradition are utilized in all their
potentiality? Have the features of oral tradition ever disappeared from music? Will the
models of the written tradition ever disappear? Given that, apart from tropes, many other
examples can be found of the persistence of oral tradition features in the ambit of the
written tradition (toccata, fantasia, canzona da sonar, faburden, dances of the XVI and
XVII centuries), then most probably we will witness in fhe future the same kind of
overlapping of techniques from different traditions.

Although the already well-established tradition does mould the development of a new
trend during periods of transition, nevertheless the latter also influences the compositional
techniques used within the former. Oral composition in a written tradition context is a
process that differs widely from oral composition in a purely oral culture.

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 In the same way, now that the electroacoustic tradition has established itself, written
composition differs notably from what it was in a purely “oral plus written” cultural
sphere. The instrumental music of Grisey, Zorn, Xenakis or Ligeti are clear examples of
the influence of electroacoustic resources on present-day written music.
Due consideration must also be given to the fact that some musical cultures are
experimenting direct transition from oral to electroacoustic (plus oral) tradition, almost
without experiencing the techniques of written tradition. Prouteau reports that collective
creative musical activities in Burundi show an increasing tendency to die out, since the
evening meetings are now held always more frequently around a radio and these radios
very often broadcast music originating in the oral tradition of inanga musicians.

3. Consequences of the advent of the electroacoustic tradition

We will now attempt to describe some of the possibilities feasible with electroacoustic
technology and then to comprehend the actual consequences produced by the use of this
technology. Among these possibilities we can include: sound synthesis; control of the
characteristics of a timbre; repetition of the same sound (not performing the same note as
in the case of acoustic instruments); transposition of a sound without altering the relation
between the harmonics; use of the concept objet sonore as an extension of the concept of
note; graphic representation unnecessary although not excluded; possibility of using and
elaborating sound objects taken from the oral or witten traditions or from the soundscape
as basic materials for a composition; possibility of playing a sound from its decay to its
attack; creation of virtual (realistic or fictitious) spaces and contexts; capture, analysis and
reproduction of random events and of ‘errors’; creation of listening, performing and/or
composing communities of people living in different parts of the world also by means of
real-time interaction; possibility of composing with software without any need for notions
or experience about oral tradition or written music; interactive listening, performing and
composing; use of extremely accurate microtone systems; possibility of using the computer
as an active agent in the compositional process with programmes which allow formalising
new musical language concepts, etc. It can be observed for instance that especially the last
two possibilities have rarely been used outside the cultured milieu, giving us one example
of how a technique, to gain ground and have an active role in the changes of a musical
culture, must become functional under the conditions in which that culture expresses itself.
As we have already mentioned, some of the possibilities offered by electroacoustic
technology have already provoked widespread consequences which undoubtedly will be
further developed in the future; these include:
a) a great number, in the fields of both contemporary and pop music, of pieces based on
the objet sonore concept instead of the “note” concept (from electroacoustic music to
some of “trip hop” and experimental dance music);
b) an extensive use of synthesised or concrete music sounds, also for replacing acoustic
instruments;
c) reassertion of the pre-eminence in music of the aural experience (with the associated
consequences on composition, transmission and musical analysis);
d) interaction between the techniques of different traditions (oral, written, electroacoustic)
in a composition, and crescendo of pieces for instruments and tape or for instruments
and live electronics also involving interactivity;
e) tendency to listen to all types of music via loudspeakers (cd, media, internet etc.)
instead of directly from the instruments; extension of listening contexts and use of
virtual contexts.

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 These consequences meet only a few of the expectations (perhaps of minor importance)
that the contemporary music world had looked forward to with regard to the use of
computers in the field of music-making; however, the evolution of ideas and awareness is
not linear like that of technological development, since it has to do with human beings
(and with the market) and does not always follow a predictable course.

4 Transmission and performance

The greater part of the public is familiar with “classical” and contemporary music
through listening to cd and other media and not by direct experience in the concert hall. It
could therefore be said that written tradition works are well-known mainly because they
have been recorded. Similarly, many oral tradition pieces are known because they have
been written at some time or another; this however involves an action that in itself may
transform that composition to a greater or lesser extent (Goody).
Also the recording of written tradition music can transform the original composition
“to a greater or lesser extent”, given the many operations involved: that is, the manner in
which the pieces are recorded by sections, editing, mixing and arranging the sounds and
finally “inventing” performances in the studio that become to all effects virtual
performances, “larger than life”, which are often compared with the “real” ones.
The possibility offered by electroacoustic equipment of breaking the continuity of a
performance during its recording (i.e. looking “backwards”, thinking “forwards” and
rearranging) has a considerable impact on what we hear today when listening to written
tradition music. This recalls to mind the similar possibilities (i.e. looking “backwards”,
thinking “forwards” and rearranging) that were available during the past centuries to the
written tradition for transcribing or arranging oral tradition songs under conditions of
interaction between written and oral processes and causes one to speculate on the extent to
which these compositions were transformed during transition from one tradition to
another. In a purely oral tradition, instead, in the absence of scores, the medium of
composition is performance. (…) In composition through performance the primary,
pervasive and controlling condition is the continuity of the performance. (Treitler 1974).
In addition, we must take into consideration the effect of sound reproduction
equipment on listening to any kind of recorded music, whether of the oral, written or
electroacoustic tradition . More often than not, owing to economic or standardization
requirements, the equipment used for listening to a piece of music is not capable of
reproducing the whole range of frequencies involved. To a certain extent this means that,
although the musical object (recorded on digital medium) is still formally the same,
listening conditions can have a determining influence on what is and what is not heard
during a specific performance. In actual fact, each time the music is played back by a
different listening device it will invariably be dissimilar. In many cases, unfortunately, the
low quality of the listening device can even jeopardize the result desired by the composer.
An example in this connection is the broadcasting of electroacoustic music by radio,
internet or the multimedia messaging (mms) of cell-phones. In electroacoustic music, the
rendering of timbral shades is of fundamental importance for a full appreciation of the
work and quite often listeners are convinced that they have heard an entire composition
when in fact they have been listening to it through loudspeakers that cut out many high and
low frequencies and blur the intermediate ones. In point of fact they have not heard the
complete composition. We could say the same thing about a symphony of Mahler. It is
true that the reproduced piece never corresponds exactly to the original composition, but in
this case the real meaning of the piece of music is compromised. In view of the widespread

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adoption of low-quality loudspeakers in portable equipments, computers and commercial
centre audio systems, many pop composers tend to write and mix their music in such a
way that it comes over well on these installations.

5. Time and place of composition, performance and listening

In the purely oral tradition, composition, performance and listening occurred at the
same time and in the same place. Following the advent of the written tradition, the time
and place of composition were separated from those of performance. This severance was
one of the principal determining factors in the development of European (and also
non-European) serious music. With the advent of the electroacoustic tradition, we are now
faced with an equally significant change: that is, the severance of the time and place of
performance from those of listening. Today, in fact, we can listen to a live performance
broadcast from France while we using a browser in a bank in Japan, or we are able to
enjoy a performance by Glen Gould many years after his death. The impact of this
severance on listening habits and on the storage, transmission, performance and
composition of music is very strong and should be considered a sign of our times.
With the advent of electronic media, the listener is given the possibility of interacting
with the equipment and of modifying in real-time what he is hearing; an example of this
new application is the interactive music CD-ROM where the listener is able to effect a
remix of the piece, while listening to it, by controlling the dynamics of the various tracks
of the disc; there are also some websites which allow the user to perform interactive
operations on sound signals. This means that the listener can also be involved directly in
the performance and recomposition of the piece of music.
Interaction has consequently resulted in at least two further developments:
- the end of unity of time and place of composition, which can now be carried out in
several stages and by the action of various subjects operating in different places and
times (in addition to the composer). This novelty was anticipated in aleatory music
(usually mediated by the performers); with the electroacoustic tradition, however, the
involvement of the listener in the creative process of the work while it is being played
could become a regular custom;
- the end of unity of time and place of performance, which can occur in several stages
and by the action of various subjects operating in different times and places.

At the same time the situation has become more complex: what has been divided can be
reunited in another sense: for example, it could happen that a sound installation enabling
the listener to interact with the sound output recreates, in a certain sense (at least partially),
a sense of unity of the time and place of composition, performance and listening. In each
work, once the listener is able to use certain technologies, he can reinvent and remodulate
the degree of separation of the above-mentioned levels.

6. Widespread virtual context

The recording and subsequent reproduction of a performance also exercise an influence

on the listening context. As we have already mentioned, a performance can be reproduced
at any time and in any place. Truax and Schafer have often written about this split between
an original sound and its electroacoustic reproduction referring to it as ‘schizophonia’.
Original sounds are tied to the mechanisms which produce them. Electroacoustic sounds

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are copies and they may be reproduced at other times or places. (Truax 1999). The
widespread “virtual context” deriving from this reproducibility cannot be clearly defined
despite the fact that, to a certain extent, it is everywhere. Today in fact we listen to music
in situations and in ways which were unthinkable in the past (e.g. in cars, in shops, in lifts,
etc). All this has had an impact on the ritual of listening to music as intense as that
produced by the change of ritual consequent to the introduction of concert halls in
European musical life. In many cases today listening to music is not confined to a single
ritual or to a single place, but is instead unintentional - or induced - and is often mixed
with sounds produced by acoustic pollution. The theory of electroacoustic music has often
concentrated on the object (i.e. the music) rather than on the impact of electroacoustic
media on human beings and on their notions and experiences of music. These themes
however should not be neglected if we wish to understand what is happening in our world.

7. The object of transmission in the various traditions

The changes occurring in the field of storage and transmission of music will now be
examined. It could be claimed that there are similarities between transmission by means of
a recorded version of a piece of music and transmission as it was effectuated within the
oral tradition ambit, since both types of transmission convey, in the absence of the
mediating effect of the score, the idea that aural experience is pre-eminent in music. The
type of “object” transmitted in oral cultures differs however from that transmitted by
electroacoustic equipment. We could mention the theory of oral composition and the
notions of ‘formula’ and ‘formulaic system’ developed by Milman Parry and Albert Lord
in the field of Homeric studies and Yugoslavian epic tradition, and applied to plainchant
by Leo Treitler, to explain all that, but the next example, quite extreme in fact, regarding
the recitation of the Bagre, recorded among the LoDagaa in northern Ghana, will be clear
enough: 'What happens in performance is that the Speaker recites, the audience listens
and one or more individuals respond by repeating his words. However Speaker and
respondents are not working from an original that both have learned; the chorus repeats
exactly what the Speaker says, and they are in no position to question him. It is he that has
the authority of the 'stool' on which he sits; his words are the Bagre. He recites rapidly
and cannot be interrupted unless he himself calls upon someone else to take over. It is true
that on the next occasion the recital takes place, another Speaker may choose to ignore
some form of words, some order of incident, that his predecessor used. But since he does
not explain that he thinks his predecessor was wrong, the audience now has (at least) two
differing models in front of them. Indeed new models proliferate all the time. It is not
simply that there is an absence of sanctions against deviation from the original, but rather
that the whole concept of an original is out of place. For even if people were trying to
reproduce and correct a recital of this length and complexity, they would be unable to do
so because they cannot set utterances side by side. It is quite different with texts where
writing gives the work an external spatial dimension. A detailed comparison of successive
verbal inputs of this length and rapidity is quite beyond the capability of the long-term
memory of individuals in oral societies. Since there is no one authoritative speaker or
authorized context (lodges exist in many settlements), versions proliferate'. (Goody).
Oral transmission must be seen ‘as a normal practice whose object and effect is to
preserve traditions. (...) This brings to a conception of an improvisational practice that
carries the sense of elaboration and variation upon a Grundgestalt.’ (Treitler 1974). This
Grundgestalt consists of certain rules based on tradition which the Reciter has learned to
apply and which therefore can in no way be considered an “original version”. Therefore

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musicologists who use recorders and computer analysis never consider a single recording
as an original, and rather tend to compare different versions.
In the written tradition, instead, the original version of a piece of music exists since it
is written or printed on paper, and the proliferation of versions is therefore limited to
editing, interpretation and performance of the piece.
In the electroacoustic tradition context, even a recorded improvisation can become an
“original” through reproduction of the sounds (for example, an improvisation by Charlie
Parker) and consequently also the performance can be transmitted. It is an interesting fact
that today an improvisation style can be learned simply by listening repeatedly to the
“original performances”. We may come across people who live in different countries but
play the same standard jazz adopting the same improvisation style. All this led to
considering the idea of inter-ethnic and inter-cultural schools and of networks of
relationships in the world of music which were inconceivable before the advent of
electroacoustic media.

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