On Acousmatism. Manifestations of the Invisible Sound in the Contexts of 20th- and 21st-Century Musical Composition
Doctoral student: Jonas Jurkūnas
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Ričardas Kabelis, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Martinš Vilums
Department: Composition
Duration: 2012–2016
Abstract
Jonas Jurkūnas
In the present artistic research paper the essential quality of invisible sound – acousmatism and its peculiarities, as well as its reflections on the conceptual level of creative work have been explored. Acousmatism is defined by the degree of interaction between sound and image. In the realm of music, divided into two large areas on the basis of sound’s invisibility, there co-exist two paradigms – of acoustic and electronic sound, respectively – that hardly mix together. The concept of these paradigms is combined with J.-J. Nattiez’s three levels (poietic, neutral and esthesic) of the total musical fact (1990). The traces of acousmatism are discussed through historical and interdisciplinary aspects: Pythagoras, Christianity, manifestos of the 20th-century, post-war period, film sound theory (Chion 1994), Uncanny Valey (Mori 1970).
Three hypothetical dimensions of acousmatism related to each other through hierarchical subordination and reciprocal interaction are being modelled. With the help of these dimensions of acousmatism, musical excerpts (including pieces by the author) belonging to the electronic paradigm are being analysed.
The research paper presents an argument that the features of acousmatism can be manifested along all three axes and in many semantic layers at once, creating a vertical and hierarchical fretwork for the existence of a musical work.
