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Proceedings of the International Computer Conference 2011, University of Huddersfield, UK, 31 July - 5 August

PHENOMENOLOGY, SPATIAL MUSIC AND THE COMPOSER: PRELUDE TO A PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPACE IN

Frederico Macedo Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts Lancaster University, UK

ABSTRACT experience of the musical subject, defined by Smith as “the working , not as a biographical item [...] In this paper I intend to show how phenomenology can but as an historical subject defined in terms of his [or be used as a tool for the description of the process of her] creative subjectivity” [30]. composition of electroacoustic music, more Phenomenology gave me the tools to reflect about, specifically, spatial electroacoustic music. It is also conceptualize and describe my attitude towards music intended as a contribution to the phenomenology of and the process of composition, which I summarized aesthetic experience, as conceptualized by Dufrenne, in five points: working mode and listening mode; the from the point of view of the composer. mechanisms of human perception; composition as an Phenomenology is also used as a philosophical intersubjective process; the means and ends of framework to describe and support my aesthetic composition and musical theory and position and beliefs regarding the relationship between interdisciplinarity. In order to define spatial music, I means and ends in composition. In order to define expose senses of space in music, a typology I spatial music and to clarify the many senses in which am proposing to clarify the uses of the idea of space in the idea of space and spatial concepts have been used the recent about composition, especially, but in music, I propose a typology in which four categories not exclusively, in the field of electroacoustic music. are used to describe the four senses of space which I Then I describe briefly one of my recent compositions identified in the recent literature about space in music. – Journey I – in which I incorporated some of the At the end of the paper, I explain how some of the aspects of space discussed. aspects of space mentioned in my typology were explored as compositionally in one of my recent 2. THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL electroacoustic compositions: Journey I. ATTITUDE TOWARDS MUSIC AND COMPOSITION 1. INTRODUCTION 2.1. Working Mode and Listening Mode Phenomenological approaches to music and the arts tend to prioritize the point of view of the spectator, Dufrenne conceives work of art and aesthetic object and in most cases can be understood as theories of as two different, but intimately connected concepts. reception. I am looking at one aspect which has not The idea of work of art is related to the materiality of been approached either by Mikel Dufrenne or any of the work, defined as “a thing in the world, the phenomenologists of music: musical experience independent of the act which aims at it” [13]. The idea from the point of view of the creator. Despite adopting of aesthetic object presupposes the spectator, and is the point of view of the spectator, Dufrenne defined as “the work of art as perceived” [4]. The recognizes the importance of taking into consideration aesthetic object is the work of art as perceived and the point of view of the creator: completed by the spectator in the aesthetic experience. we believe that an exhaustive study of aesthetic The distinction between work of art and aesthetic experience would in any case have to unite the two object and the idea that the creator is a spectator of his approaches, since, while it is true that art presupposes or her work gave me the tools to conceptualize the the initiative of an artist, it is also true that it awaits process of creation as an alternation between two consecration by a public. And, at a deeper level, the modes: working mode and listening mode. I experiences of creator and spectator are not understand the work of art as the domain of the unconnected; for the artist becomes the spectator of his creator, which has to deal with the different problems [or her] own work as he [or she] creates it [12]. posed by the work: technical and formal problems, Because phenomenology can be understood as a and also questions related to conception and potential philosophical attitude rather than an analytical meaning. When dealing directly with these problems method, it is possible to use it to describe the the composer is in working mode. Among other

29 Proceedings of the International Conference 2011, University of Huddersfield, UK, 31 July - 5 August

aspects, the working mode in electroacoustic music the music into which I strive to be absorbed, that involves recording, processing, editing, selecting and conjunction of color, , and orchestral putting all materials together to create the [...]. I came to open myself to the work composition. The use of different technical [...] to experience the apotheosis of the sensuous [14]. procedures, from the most simple – volume, panning, As a natural consequence of the intimate relationship equalization and dynamic processing – to the most between art and perception, the artist would benefit complex algorithms created for specific and unique from taking into consideration the mechanisms of sound transformations, are all part of the working human perception when creating his or her work. The mode. work of art would benefit of being informed about The listening mode means changing the focus from perception, especially when working with aspects the mentioned problems to the aural results. In which have a direct correspondence with ordinary different stages of the composition, to have this perception, as is the case with spatial perception and twofold approach means, as often as possible, to listen the perception of space in electroacoustic music. and let the ear be the final judge in the process of These considerations led to the study of the decision of what the final work will be. In this sense, mechanisms of spatial perception in general and, in an important part of the process of composition particular, of its aural aspects. consists in the development of the listening skills in order to focus on different aspects of the work – 2.3. Composition as an Intersubjective Process technical aspects, formal aspects, referential aspects, expressive aspects. It means also to take into Another essential aspect of the phenomenological consideration the responses of different kinds of attitude towards composition is the consideration of listeners to the work, in order to assess to what extent the process of creation as an intersubjective process, the composer’s intentions can be heard in the which can be understood on two levels. Firstly, it is an composition. To spend some time far from the piece intersubjective experience between the composer and and then approach it with ‘fresh ears’ is an effective the listener mediated by the musical work. In Smith’s way of changing from working mode to listening words: mode, and may be helpful in noticing important aspects which may not be noticed when working very music is an intersubjective experience, not a solipsistic one. Therefore a composer needs his [or her] audience, closely to the piece, say, on a daily basis. his [or her] creative listeners, in order to be truly a composer. It is not just a question of playing down to or 2.2. Art, Music and Perception merely playing for an audience, as it were, to feed the audience into one’s boundless ego. Rather, the true Both Merleau-Ponty and Dufrenne recognize the composer plays for and with his listeners in an central role of perception for the arts. Merleau-Ponty intersubjective dialogue which reduces mere ego and all points out that, in order to rediscover the world of its external concomitants, such as fortune and fame [32]. perception, it is necessary to review the conceptions In this sense, when composing, I try to use the about science and the role of the senses in the conclusions of my theoretical research in a way that constitution of knowledge. He restores the world of leads to results which can be perceived aurally by the perception as a dimension which has its own value listener. In the piece discussed in the end of this and which can be a legitimate source of knowledge. presentation, I tried to think in a way in which the Art is intimately related to perception, and to be knowledge about spatial perception could be properly understood, the work of art should be first translated into compositional techniques which, conceived as an object primarily given to perception: ultimately, would lead to aural results to be perceived If I accept the tutelage of perception, I find [...] [that] the by the listener. work of art resembles the object of perception: its nature Secondly, I understand the intersubjectivity of the is to be seen or heard and no attempt to define or analyse process of composition as permeating the relationship it, however valuable that may be afterwards as a way of of the creator with the work during the process of taking stock of this experience, can ever stand in place composition. When speaking of the world of the of the direct perceptual experience [26]. aesthetic object, Dufrenne defines it as a quasi In a similar way, Dufrenne defines art as the subject: apotheosis of the sensuous. This does not mean that the world of the work is a finite but unlimited totality, a all aspects of art can be reduced to its sensorial totality which the work shows through both its form and aspects, but that the other dimensions of the aesthetic its content [...]. This world is the work itself [...], object – representation, imagination, reflection and considered not in its immediate and meaningless reality feeling – are supported by the sensuous. Describing as a mute thing without a soul, but as a thing which his experience of a performance of Wagner’s Tristan surpasses itself toward its meaning – that is, a quasi and Isolde, Dufrenne says that: subject [15]. what is irreplaceable, the very substance of the work, is In his analysis of Varèse’s Poème Électronique, the sensuous or perceptible element [...] which is also speaks of the exchange of roles between communicated only in its presence; it is that fullness of

30 Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference 2011, University of Huddersfield, UK, 31 July - 5 August

the analyst and the work as one of the tactics of There have been periods in which have phenomenological analysis: produced music with respect to which the analyst can be fairly confident that descriptions of the means do rather than manipulate a work through a formal grid of correspond meaningfully with descriptions of the aural analytical questions and positions, one responds to the phenomena. This century does not appear to be one of questions posed by the work. The interpreter discovers those periods, at least it does not when one surveys the that, in the traditional sense of the terms “subject” and general body of composed music. Often it is much more “object”; he is now the object; the music, as subject, interesting to discuss a contemporary composer’s questions the analyst [16]. methods than to listen to his [or her] music [2]. Both Dufrenne and Ferrara suggest that the This reflection leads to the consideration of the relationship between the spectator or the analyst and importance of the means used in the composition and the work is more than a simple relationship where the their relevance for the work from the aural point of work is an object and the spectator or analyst is the view: are the techniques used relevant from the point subject. This is an intersubjective relationship, in of view of the listener? If they are, in which sense? which the aesthetic object becomes a quasi subject. In Should the listener be aware of the technical the same way, in the process of composition, the work procedures? If so, in which sense? This reflection may being created becomes a quasi subject, and the also lead to considerations about what kind of musical relationship established between the composer and the background and experience is expected from the composition can be understood as an intersubjective listener. There are different answers to these relationship. questions, and the way they are answered reflects the This intersubjective process describes the kind of composer’s aesthetic position and beliefs. Here I give relationship I develop with my work in the process of some answers suggested by phenomenology, which composition. This relationship is dialogical in the reflect my aesthetic position and beliefs. sense that the work sometimes behaves as if it had its In the same way that Ferrara thinks that in own life, or as if it were a subject, in the sense that it phenomenological analysis the method should not poses its questions and sometimes develops through take prominence in relation to the work, I believe that directions which were not the originally intended for in composition the techniques should not take the piece. Chance may be an important element in the prominence in relation to the work as perceived process. Unpredictable and unintended actions may aurally. When composing, I may experiment different produce interesting results which can be eventually techniques and procedures, which includes the use of incorporated in the final work. In this respect, the a rigorous approach to develop the materials through attitude of listening is essential to the process of different kinds of processing and also the use of some decision-making about what should be kept and about level of determinacy in the organization of the what should be eliminated. Sometimes ideas which materials. Despite of the importance of these initially seem interesting do not sound ‘right’ and procedures to expand and reveal new possibilities for sometimes accidental or not fully planned procedures composition, my final choices and decisions are led by can lead to good results. It is important to listen to the the aural properties of the material and their potential work and to allow it to develop its own voice, which to develop structures which are interesting and expresses itself directly to the composer in the effective from the musical point of view, taking in listening mode, or through other listeners’ voices, consideration their structural, expressive and when they give direct feedback about the composition referential potentialities. This attitude agrees with or report their listening experience. This is particularly Clifton’s considerations about the role of technique in relevant for the timing of the composition, or the music, from a phenomenological point of view: relative duration of sound events and sections and their importance for the whole piece, but also for Phenomenology does not ignore the role of technique, many other aspects, such as the character, expressive since it plays a necessary (but not sufficient) part in at and referential value and specific technical points. least the production of music. But it does urge that we understand the relation of technique to music itself as 2.4. The Means and Ends of Composition one of means to ends. If phenomenology criticizes those who make the study of technique an end in itself, [...] it is not because it denies the value of empirical methods, Another important aspect of phenomenology of music but because the non-empirical status of music is covered is the reflection about the relationship between with research on the empirical sounds which are its compositional technique and aural results. The already medium, the empirical techniques which are its means, mentioned distinction between work of art and and the empirical marks (the notation) which are its aesthetic experience is also revealing in this respect. signs. The sounds, the techniques, and the notation are This dichotomy parallels the distinction established by all vastly important aspects of music, but they are not Batstone between the means and ends of musical music itself [8]. composition, in his criticism of the attitude of analysts who believe that the description of the compositional techniques always corresponds to the description of the music as perceived by the listener:

31 Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference 2011, University of Huddersfield, UK, 31 July - 5 August

2.5. Musical Theory and Interdisciplinarity and, also, the different areas of research which presently offer important contributions to the studies One of the central concepts for phenomenology is the of perception, such as neurosciences, cognitive idea of life-world, proposed by Edmund Husserl, to sciences and aural architecture [4]. refer to the original experience of the world, source of all knowledge, including art and science. Husserl was 3. FOUR SENSES OF SPACE IN MUSIC not opposed to science and scientific description and, in fact, the reflection about the methods of science is Spatial concepts have been used in , music an important part of his philosophical project, but he analysis and compositional writing to refer to different did not believe that the methods and views of science aspects of music. In order to clarify the many uses of should be regarded as the foundation of all spatial concepts in music, I propose a typology to knowledge. According to him, if one wants to classify the different uses of the idea of space in the discover the original world of experience it is recent literature about composition, especially, but not necessary to abandon the prejudices produced by exclusively, in the field of electroacoustic music. The science and return to the primordial experience of the first sense is metaphorical – musical space as world as lived. Husserl conceived all cognitive metaphor. The three remaining senses – musical space activity as derived from a pregiven domain, the world as performance place, musical space as sound as found by the consciousness of the knower. To spatialisation and musical space as soundscape – are return to this pregiven world is to return to the life- related to space in a literal sense, here understood as world (Lebenswelt). Husserl called this pregiven the space as perceived by human beings. Perception of experience of the world, prepredicative experience, space has been defined by Gibson (1966) as: defined by Moran as the “experience before it has been formulated in judgments and expressed in a basic type of perception on which other perceptions outward linguistic form” [27]. depend, that is, the detection of the stable permanent framework of the environment. This is sometimes called The idea of life-world and the openness to the perception of “space”, but that term implies different levels of experience is reflected in the something abstract and intellectual, whereas what it centrality of experience in musical phenomenology. In means is something concrete and primitive – a dim, opposition to the idea that music is a non referential underlying, and ceaseless awareness of what is and pure art, detached from any connection with the permanent in the world [18]. real world, most musical phenomenologists recognize and describe different levels of experience and Three aural aspects of aural perception of space are meaning which emerge from musical experience. As particularly important for the typology proposed here: Ferrara states: (1) the acoustical effects of the environment on the sound, especially through the phenomena of A musical experience is marked by the synthesis of diffraction, acoustic shadows, echoes and passion and rationality, emotion and understanding, and body and mind. [...] Listeners experience music as a reverberation; (2) the perception of an auditory field multiplicity of levels of significance which may include which surrounds the listener from all directions, the sound-in-time, formal properties or syntax, the related to the detection of motion and sound symbolic transformation of human feelings and the localization and (3) the recognition of sources, related exemplification of a sense of the historical epoch in to the identity of the sound in terms of the objects or which the musical work was created [17]. entities responsible for its production. Each of these While reflecting about the relationship between space three aspects corresponds to one of the three literal and music and how space can be incorporated as an senses of space in music discussed here. essential aspect of composition it is important to take into consideration the potential multiplicity of levels 3.1. Musical Space as Metaphor of meaning offered by the experience of music, especially the power of music to evoke experiences of Musical space as metaphor is the use of spatial other senses. Perception of space involves the concepts for music description, which may not contribution of different perceptual systems, necessarily be related to the spatial aspects of music, something which has been increasingly recognized in from a literal point of view. Spatial metaphors have the interdisciplinary field of the studies of perception, been used to describe different aspects of musical such as in the study of crossmodal attention [11]. structures, among them rhythm, overall organization Because sound and music have the power to activate and the dimension of pitch. Many spatial concepts are perceptions other than aural, space can be explored as incorporated in the current musical terminology, such an essential aspect of composition. as ‘structure’, ‘materials’ and ‘form’ to describe an Therefore, in order to understand spatial music it is experience which, ultimately, is temporal one. The use important to include any field of knowledge which of the concepts of ‘high’ and ‘low’ to refer to the can give relevant information about human perception dimension of pitch is another example of spatial of space and human aural perception, such as the metaphor used for music description. Some authors traditional fields of psychology and psychoacoustics went further, and developed systems of musical

32 Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference 2011, University of Huddersfield, UK, 31 July - 5 August

description or analysis rooted in spatial metaphors. including religious antiphonal music, polychoral Three examples of the conceptual use of metaphors compositions of Venetian composers such as Adrian for music description are the conception of space as Willaert and , and the complex one of the essentials of music experience, proposed by settings designed by Henry Brant and other Thomas Clifton [9]; the concept of sonic space contemporary composers such as Stockhausen, Boulez proposed by Trevor Wishart [36] and the idea of tonal or Xenakis, in which the are placed in the pitch space proposed by [25]. In all performance place in a way that the sound comes from these examples, the authors use spatial metaphors to different directions. If the composer uses only refer to specific aspects of music: instrumental or vocal resources, this kind of music can texture, the possibilities of different kinds of sonic be conceptualized as instrumental spatial music. In material for composition and the pitch dimension of the case of electroacoustic music, when the music, respectively. The use of spatial metaphors for loudspeakers are dispersed throughout the music description is widespread in musicology and performance place, instead of placed in front of the music analysis, and does not necessarily relate to audience, it can be conceptualized as electroacoustic space in a literal sense, which is what defines spatial spatial music. When the composer uses both music. instrumental and electroacoustic sources, the music can be conceptualized as mixed spatial music. This 3.2. Musical Space as Performance Place conceptualization takes in consideration just the physical placement of sound sources, however, in Musical space as performance place is the first of the order to be defined as spatial music, it is important three literal senses of space in music, and refers to the that the music composed explores in an effective way effects of the environment on the sound, or in musical the possibilities offered by the dispersal of sound contexts, the effect of the acoustics of the performance sources, either as parameters of composition pre- places on music. Basically, the most important of defined in the score or in recorded multichannel these effects is reverberation. The effects of room formats, or as parameters to be manipulated in real acoustics on musical sound have been described by time during the of performance or diffusion of the acoustics, psychoacoustics and aural architecture [4]. piece to the audience. The many musical implications of reverberation have Different aural effects can be achieved with the also been discussed by composers of electroacoustic dispersal of sound sources. Two of them are music. Reverberation can be incorporated in the particularly important for the discussion and materials of electroacoustic music in three ways: (1) evaluation of spatial music: (1) stream segregation the use of stereo or surround microphone techniques and (2) motion of sound. Harley discusses how many to capture natural reverberation; (2) the use of composers in 20th century seemed to have an intuitive artificial reverberation in the studio to simulate natural awareness of the principles studied by Bregman [6], acoustics and (3) the use of artificial reverberation or according to which spatial separation makes the other kinds of sound processing to create unrealistic differentiation between different sources – what he virtual reverberant spaces. The interaction between calls stream segregation – easier for the listener. In recorded or artificially created reverberation and the her words: reverberation of the place is one of the important topics in the discussion of the spatial Many composers, from Bartók to Brant and Boulez, aspects of electroacoustic music. Smalley, for from Stockhausen to Ptaszynska and Gorecki, have example, proposes the concepts of superimposed intuitively stumbled upon the primitive or innate space and diffused space to discuss the interaction principles of scene analysis regarding sound spatiality. There seems to be a consensus that the spatial between composed space and listening space [31]. segregation helps to clarify complex textures; and that it Other composers also discuss this as one of the works best in conjunction with other cues for stream problems related to the diffusion of electroacoustic segregation, especially pitch and timbre [20]. music, such as Harrison [21] [22] and Truax [33]. The second important perceptual effect which may be 3.3. Musical Space as Sound Spatialisation achieved with the dispersal of sound sources is the motion of sound. Although the effect has been Musical space as sound spatialisation is the second attempted using instrumental resources, this literal sense of space in music, and is referred by possibility can be better explored with the use of different authors [38] [39] [27] [19] as the distinctive electroacoustic technology. When the sound is feature of spatial music, which is can be defined as detached from its natural source, through recording or any kind of music in which the sound sources are capture by microphones in a live situation, it can dispersed throughout the performance place, in a way move freely in space, provided there is sufficient that the relationship between the sounds and the number of loudspeakers dispersed in the performance audience is different from the traditional front- place and some kind of process of spatialisation, oriented relationship characteristic of western concert performed live, pre-programmed or composed in the music. In this sense, all antiphonal music is spatial, studio using multichannel technology. Chowning was

33 Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference 2011, University of Huddersfield, UK, 31 July - 5 August

one of the first composers to discuss the many aspects The piece develops from a relatively subtle involved in the perception and digital simulation of processing of the original sounds, through the use of moving sounds using stationary sources [7] and increasingly processed sounds, reaching, in the last Wishart [37] describes many possibilities of motion of part, the use of processing in a way that makes the sound in a single plane. To make the motion of sound identity of the original sounds barely recognizable. In in space an effective experience for the listener is, in terms of the first literal sense of space, performance the present, one of the challenges for composers place and reverberation, the piece develops from a working with electroacoustic music. Due to the relatively small space characterized by the natural limitations and high cost of technologies, a perfect resonances of the instrument (first part), through a simulation of motion is still difficult to achieve. In large artificial reverberant space (second part) to a spite of that, with the use of multichannel diffusion huge artificial reverberant space (third part). In terms systems such as BEAST [23], Acousmonium [3] and of the second sense of space, sound spatialisation, the Gmebaphone [10], to diffuse stereo or multichannel quadraphonic format has been chosen because of the pieces, it is possible to achieve effective results in possibilities of working with sounds coming from terms of motion of sound. Some composers, among behind the listener, together with the sounds coming them Barrett [1] also started to use ambisonics to from the loudspeakers facing the listener. The explore different aspects of space in electroacoustic possibilities of motion of sound offered by the format composition, including motion of sound. are limited, however, some of these possibilities, especially diagonal motion, were used. 3.4. Musical Space as Soundscape In the first part (0’00” - 4’13”) the sounds were processed using equalization, dynamic processing, Musical space as soundscape is the third literal sense edition, convolution reverb and Doppler effect. The of space in music, and refers to the power of sound to reverberation is primarily the original resonances of recall the experience of different places through the the instrument, also used to convolute the transformed use of referential sound. Composers of soundscape sounds. In terms of spatial design, gestural sounds music use sound to evoke specific soundscapes cross the quad field in motion, using especially through the use of sounds which are part of these diagonal trajectories. places, such as sounds of animals and natural In the second part (4’14” - 9’30”) the sounds are phenomena to evoke natural settings, and sounds of processed using extreme time stretching and spectral traffic, means of transport and machines to evoke processing. After a short introduction (4’14” - 6’19”) urban settings [28] [29] [34] [35]. The imitation of the second part develops around a theme (6’19”- sounds of the world by musical instruments has a long 7’15”) with three variations (7’15” - 9’30”), in which and well-documented history in western music [24], the unprocessed sounds are combined with the however, recorded sound seems to be the best way to processed sounds and artificial reverberation. In terms fully explore the allusive potential of referential of spatial design the sounds do not move, but come sound. Different techniques of electroacoustic music from different points in the quad field. developed to explore reverberation, placement of In the third and last part (9’30” – 15’00”) drones sources and motion of sound, can be used to enhance created through the repetition of very small cycles the impact and realism of referential sound, when this taken from the original chords are used with slow effect is aimed by the composer, or to give more attack and long artificial reverberation to suggest an effectiveness and additional realism to imaginary infinite space. Slow spatial motion of sounds match soundscapes. the temporal development of the drones, which become increasingly less noticeable with the increase 4. Journey I of the proportion of reverberated sound relative to the direct sound. Journey I (2011) has evolved from a former study The diffusion of the piece in multiple loudspeakers based on sounds of composed in 2009. should enhance the spatial design. If there are two or Originally a stereo piece lasting 8’35”, it intended to three sets of four loudspeakers at different distances explore some of the timbral and spatial possibilities from the audience, there should be an emphasis on offered by the sound of the instrument in the stereo closer speakers in the first part, emphasis on middle field, it was further developed into a 15’00’’ four- distance speakers in the second part and an emphasis channel piece. The piece has three parts, defined by in distant speakers in the third part the materials, kind of processing and the spatial In terms of the third literal sense of space, design. The original material consists of chords and a soundscape and reference, the piece does not use any melodic theme recorded in the harpsichord using direct reference to environmental sounds, as all Messiaen’s fifth mode of limited transposition (C-Db- sounds are taken from the harpsichord. However, F-Gb-G-B) in different keys, played with different Journey I can be understood as a piece of soundscape timbres of the instrument, and also sounds produced music, in which the places visited by the traveller- through direct manipulation of strings. listener do not correspond to real places, but to imaginary spaces, as suggested by Harrison:

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When elaborated through the process of composition 6. REFERENCES into the realm of performance practice, [...] [recorded sound] has the power to transport us quite literally, at the speed of sound into other places, other situations and [1] BARRETT, Natasha. “Spatio- even [...] other times. Ultimately, therefore, it can reach strategies”. Organised Sound 7(3), 2002. deep into the most inaccessible place of all: our imagination (Harrison: 2000). [2] BATSTONE, Philip. “Musical Analysis as Phenomenology”. Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 7 The choice of the name of the piece may exemplify (Spring-Summer, 1969), pp. 97-98. the intersubjective relationship between the composer [3] BAYLE, Francois. “Space, and more”. Organised and the piece. The first title used – Harpsichord Study Sound 12(3), 2007. I – was a direct reference to the source of the material, and since the beginning was a provisional title. The [4] BLESSER, Barry and SALTER, Linda-Ruth. second provisional title – Alice in Harpsichland – Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? Experiencing Aural made a direct reference to Lewis Carol’s character in Architecture. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, Alice in Wonderland to suggest that the listener would England: The MIT Press, 2007. travel through imaginary soundscapes made of sounds [5] BRANT, Henry. “Space as an Essential Aspect of of harpsichord. When I had the opportunity to show Musical Composition”. SCHWARZ, E. And CHILDS, the piece to a small audience and discuss with the B. (ed.) Contemporary Composers on Contemporary listeners their impressions, only one in 30 listeners Music. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967. understood the title, which showed that it did not reflect the listener’s experience in a consistent way. [6] BREGMAN, Albert S. Auditory Scene Analysis: Also, because the word harpsichland is a neologism, The Perceptual Organization of Sound. Cambridge, it could sound strange or funny, which does not reflect Massachusetts, London, England: Bradford/The MIT the character of the piece. Eventually I decided to use Press, 1990. Journey I because it is relatively open to different [7] CHOWNING, John. “The Simulation of Moving interpretations and suggests a journey that the listener Sound Sources”. In. Journal of the Audio Engineering makes through different imaginary soundscapes. The Society, 19, 2-6, 1971. number I is in the title because it is part of a set of two pieces, of which Journey I is based on sounds of [8] CLIFTON, Thomas. Music as Heard: A Study in harpsichord and Journey II is based on sounds of the Applied Phenomenology. New Haven and London: . Yale University Press, 1983. pp. 36-37. [9] CLIFTON, Thomas. Music as Heard: A Study in 5. CONCLUSIONS Applied Phenomenology. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1983. This paper summarizes partial results of a larger [10] CLOZIER, Christian. “Composition, diffusion research which aims to discuss the meaning of space and interpretation in electroacoustic music”. in music and electroacoustic music, and how space Composition/Diffusion in Electroacoustic Music. can be incorporated as an essential aspect of Actes III, 1997, vol. III. Bourges: Editions composition. Phenomenology has proven to be an Mnemosyne. effective approach to connect the theoretical and practical aspects of the research. Phenomenology also [11] DRIVER, Jon and SPENCE, Charles. “Attention offered the opportunity to reflect about important and the crossmodal construction of space”. Trends in aspects of music and composition, and provided the Cognitive Sciences. Vol. 2, no. 7, July 1998. conceptualization used to describe the aesthetic [12] DUFRENNE, Mikel. The Phenomenology of experience from the point of view of the composer. Aesthetic Experience. Evanston: Northwestern The typology proposed aims to help to understand and University Press, 1973, pp. xlvi-xvii. organize the many different senses in which space has been discussed in the recent literature about music in [13] DUFRENNE, Mikel. The Phenomenology of general, with particular emphasis in electroacoustic Aesthetic Experience. Evanston: Northwestern music. Because this typology, especially in the literal University Press, 1973, p. li. aspects of space discussed, is primarily related to perceived space, it can be useful to composers to [14] DUFRENNE, Mikel. The Phenomenology of organize, reflect and develop specific techniques to Aesthetic Experience. Evanston: Northwestern work with each aspect of space discussed. In the end I University Press, 1973, p. 11. gave an example of how the concepts discussed can be [15] DUFRENNE, Mikel. The Phenomenology of used as tools for composition, analysis and description Aesthetic Experience. Evanston: Northwestern of music. University Press, 1973, p. 190.

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[16] FERRARA, Lawrence. “Phenomenology as a Musical Thought. PAYNTER, Jon et alii (ed.). New Tool for Musical Analysis”. The Musical Quarterly. York: Routledge, 1992. Volume LXX. No. 3. New York: Schirmer, 1984. [29] SCHAFER, R. Murray. The Soundscape: Our [17] FERRARA, Lawrence. Philosophy and the Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Analysis of Music: Bridges to Musical Sound, Form, Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books, 1994. and Reference. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, [30] SMITH, F. Joseph. The Experiencing of Musical 1991. Sound: Prelude to a Phenomenology of Music. New [18] GIBSON, James J. The Senses Considered as York, London, Paris: Gordon and Breach, 1979, p. Perceptual Systems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin 144. Company, 1966. p. 59. [31] SMALLEY, Denis. “Spatial Experience in [19] HARLEY, Maria A. “An American in Space: Electro-acoustic Music”. DHOMONT, Francis (Ed.) Henry Brant’s ‘Spatial Music’”. In. American Music. L’espace du son II, special issue of Lien: Ohain, 1991. Vol. 15, no. 1, Spring 1997. [32] SMITH, F. Joseph. The Experiencing of Musical [20] HARLEY, Maria A. “Spatiality of sound and Sound: Prelude to a Phenomenology of Music. New stream segregation in twentieth century instrumental York, London, Paris: Gordon and Breach, 1979, p. music”. Organised Sound 3(2). Cambridge University 179. Press, 1999. [33] TRUAX, Barry. “Composition and Diffusion: [21] HARRISON, Jonty. “Sound, space, sculpture: space in sound in space”. Organized Sound 3(2). some thoughts on the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ of Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. sound diffusion”. Organised Sound 3(2). Cambridge: [34] TRUAX, Barry. “Genres and techniques of Cambridge University Press, 1999a. soundscape composition as developed at Simon Fraser [22] HARRISON, Jonty. “Diffusion: theories and University”. Organised Sound 7(1), 2002. practices, with particular reference to the BEAST [35] WESTERKAMP, Hildegard. “Linking system”. eContact 2.4. ix 1999b. soundscape composition and acoustic ecology”. [23] HARRISON, Jonty. “Diffusion: theories and Organised Sound 7(1). Cambridge University Press, practices, with particular reference to the BEAST 2002. system”. eContact 2.4. ix 1999. [36] WISHART, Trevor. On Sonic Art. Amsterdam: [24] KNIGHT, David B. Landscapes in Music: Space, Harwood Academic Publishers, 1998. Place, ant Time in the World’s Great Music. [37] WISHART, Trevor. On Sonic Art. Amsterdam: Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006. Harwood Academic Publishers, 1998, Chapter 10. [25] LERDAHL, Fred. “Tonal Pitch Space”. Music [38] ZVONAR, Richard. An Extremely Brief History Perception. Volume 5, number 3, Spring 1988. of Spatial Music in the 20th Century. Published online [26] MERLEAU-PONTY, Maurice. The World of in: http://cec.concordia.ca/econtact/Multichannel/ Perception. London and New York: Routledge, 2004. spatial _music_short.html. Originally published in p. 95. Surround Professional magazine, 2000. [27] MORAN, Dermot. Introduction to [39] ZVONAR, Richard. A History of Spatial Music. Phenomenology. New York: Routledge, 2000, p. 12. Published online in http://cec.concordia.ca/econtact/ Multichannel/spatial_music.html. 2005. [28] SCHAFER, R. Murray. “Music, Non-music and the Soundscape”. Companion to Contemporary

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