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Guillaume Contré



Last Updated: 11/17/2009

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Status: Single
City: St Denis
Country: FR
Signup Date: 10/5/2006
Sunday, January 14, 2007 

Category: Life

Well, what is Acousmatic music, one of you may ask.....

This is music made in a studio, using all kinds of devices possible, from pieces of metal, wood, paper, whatever speaking through the use of the microphone, to synth or software electronics sequences, not forgetting the voice, noises & sounds of real life, etc...

All this material is shaped, cutted, processed to fit in the form of a story made with sounds that are not basically considered as being musical (but since pionners like John Cage at the end of the 30's, we all know that everything can be music).

Acousmatic means that you cannot see (and even cannot guess) the physical origin of the sound. That means that once you had putted out this useless information, you can start to really feel and hear the sounds for themselves, as they really are, with their inner life ans shapes....

In other words, the acousmatic situation is really freeing the listener, who can so start to make work is imagination, who can investigate by himself the music to make it alive, and not being just a passive worm eating everythings that one want him to eat...

In concert, the music is meant to be heard on a loudspeaker orchestra, called Acousmonium, where the public is surrounded by speakers, and can  be directly and totally in the sound.

The history of this music goes back to the pionneers Pierre Scheaffer and Pierre Henry at the end of the 40's....

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terje paulsen

 

hi!

thanks alot for this easy explanation on acousmatic music. well, would you say it's a  difference between electroacoustic and acousmatic, or is the same? i must admit i don't know my music-history too well....

big respect & admiration to you, your music & the other projects where you are involved!

yours  terje

 


 
Posted by terje paulsen on Saturday, March 03, 2007 - 1:17 AM
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Guillaume Contré

 

well, there's a lot of names (acousmatic, musique concrète, electroacoustic....) to talk of musics that are more or less the same.

to my part, i would say that the word acousmatic is really interesting because of its original meaning (this situation so of earing something  but not seing the cause), and i think it's an important aspect of these musics we're talking about now, going to the real essence of the sound for itself.

however, electro-acoustic is a word that can also rely to instrumental music mixed with electronic effects, various manipulations, strange objects used as musical tools, etc... And if you can see the player, well it's not acousmatic and i truly think that the way you will perceve the music would be very different (it's not a critic about theses musics, just an important point wich is a lot of time misunderstood).

you can  really "understand" deeply the sound only in an acousmatic situation, because if your eyes are active they allways becomes the "leaders" of your perception. (we allways go to "see" a concert, not to "ear" it, damn it !) .

well, i don't know if i've really answered to your question, the basics aspects of musical history like "who is the first who used this or that word or name..." are not really relevant, i think.

thanks for your interest,

see you

take care.

guillaume.

 


 
Posted by Guillaume Contré on Saturday, March 03, 2007 - 12:05 PM
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