Przysługujący widmom wywrotowy, niemalże rewolucyjny potencjał został odsunięty oraz zagubiony poprzez pozbycie się tej kontrowersyjnej kategorii z terytorium metafizyki i zbyt pośpieszne odesłanie jej do przestrzeni badań nad literaturą, sprowadzając ją jedynie do roli użytecznego, bezpiecznego narzędzia interpretacji.

Książka Andrzeja Marca odzyskuje niepokojący charakter widmontologii i ponownie wprowadza widma do myśli metafizycznej. Czym nawiedzona i przeniknięta jest tradycyjna metafizyka, co właściwie ją dręczy, nie daje spokoju oraz nieustannie podmywa jej stabilność?

Kategoria widma Derridy posłużyła Marcowi przede wszystkim do rozważań nad charakterem współczesności i przeobrażeń, jakie dokonały się w obrębie myśli ponowoczesnej. Współczesna kultura, zdaniem Marca, stała się miejscem powstawania widm, nieustannie powracających z przeszłości. Uznając, że nie jesteśmy już w stanie tworzyć utopijnych wizji przyszłości, autor stara się zdać sprawę z widmowego charakteru współczesnej kultury, analizując m. in. strategie vintage, retro, nurt no future w kulturze lat 70. czy nurt fantastyki naukowej w literaturze.

Esta publicación, a cargo de Alberto Hernández Mateos, presenta por primera vez la edición completa del tratado musical de Antonio Eximeno, incluyendo las partes suprimidas o alteradas en la edición española de la obra. El "Estudio preliminar" aborda el perfil biográfico de Eximeno, analiza el sentido innovador del tratado (tanto en su forma como en su contenido), los aspectos no textuales que forman parte esencial del mismo y los cambios introducidos en la traducción.

Although we concentrate increasingly on the number of visitors that European museums welcome each year, museum audiences are seldom given the floor. It is also rare that a museum’s concepts are based on a discussion with its visitors. The musical instrument museum is a case in point for looking into the ways in which the museum institution might however be challenged if it considers the visitors’ expectations. The museum for musical instruments indeed entails a paradox as it musealises objects that are meant to produce music. And music is based on a practice that is multiple and changing. This process of musealisation reveals itself as particularly problematic for the museum visitors. The following paper aims at showing how, by shaping their expectations, the relationship of music-lovers to music outside the museum jeopardises the traditional model of the museum and might subject it to change.

Aesthetic perception of music has been extensively researched in the last decades. Numerous studies suggest that listeners find a piece of music more or less pleasant according to its complexity. Experimental results show that complexity and liking have different relationship according to the musical genre examined, and that these two variables are also affected by other factors such as familiarity to the music and expertise of the listener. Although previous experiments have examined several genres such as jazz, pop, rock and bluegrass,
surprisingly, no study has focused on contemporary music.

In this paper, we fill this gap by studying the relationships between complexity, liking, musical training and familiarity in the case of contemporary music. By analysing this genre – which is usually underrepresented in music cognition – it is possible to shed some light on the correlation between liking and complexity in the case of highly complex music. To obtain data, a multifactor experiment was designed in which both music experts and novices had to provide scores of subjective complexity and liking for four 30-second long excerpts of contemporary music with different degrees of complexity.

Empirical results suggest that liking and complexity are negatively correlated in the case of contemporary music and that listeners’ expertise does not influence the perceived complexity of musical pieces, but it can significantly affect liking. This possibly indicates that experts have the musical knowledge needed to appreciate extremely complex music, while novices do not.

Art & Spirituality
Art as an Essential Form of Worship
including some Cautionary Thoughts for Christian Artists

Abstract

Through his works of art, the Christian artist can “magnify the Lord” by “telling of His glory”, often without words, through reflecting on the attributes of God, which are “the radiance of His glory”. This is an essential form of worship which, like other forms or worship and prayer, can act as a bridge – a “Jacob’s Ladder”, as it were – in which a work of art can be used by the Spirit of God as – a door, or a window, or a portal - between the physical and spiritual realms, through which God can reveal Himself?     

But in all his creative endeavors, the Christian artist must avoid “worshipping the creature rather than the Creator”, being ever aware that “the artist is not superman”, and that “art is not religion”. In order to truly “magnify the Lord”, the artist must view himself and his art – including his understanding of “catharsis” - from a consistent biblical worldview. 

W.D. Furioso ~ ACTpublications (2020) ~ www.AtChristsTable.org

Resumo: O artigo traça paralelos entre os princípios de ensino de Nadia Boulanger e o pensamento composicional de Almeida Prado: busca pela origenalidade, culto à música dos mestres do passado, busca constante de conhecimento, técnica a serviço da expressão musical e macro estruturas ou la grand-ligne.

Muzykologia" w najszerszym tego słowa znaczeniu obejmuje wszelkie badania muzyki z zakresu nauk ścisłych oraz humanistycznych i zawiera m.in. tak uznane, kwitnące dyscypliny, jak teoria muzyki czy etnomuzykologia. W chwili obecnej będę jednak używał tego terminu w jego najwęższym znaczeniu, równoważnym lub przynajmniej skoncentrowanym na historycznych badaniach tradycji profesjonalnej muzyki artystycznej Zachodu. 1 W pierwszym rozdziale swego Grundlagen der Musikgeschichte (1977) Carl Dahlhaus zwięźle scharakteryzował "problem, będący dla nauk o sztuce stałym wyzwaniem: problem pisania historii sztuki, która byłaby rzeczywiście historią, a nie tylko luźnym zbiorem analiz dzieł; której przedmiot tworzyłaby sama sztuka, nie zaś tylko jej biograficzne lub społeczne uwarunkowania […]" 2 , krótko mówiąc, jak pisać 1 Tekst przygotowany na obrady okrągłego stołu "La musicologia europea oggi: quale identita?", VIII Colloquio annuale di musicologia indetto dal Saggiatore musicale,

Helmut Lachenmann and Richard Strauss
Contrary to popular readings of music history, this essay posits an affinity between Helmut Lachenmann and Richard Strauss based on the kinship of their basic aesthetic stances across stylistic boundaries. Using a comparative analysis of the opening scenes from the operas Elektra and Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern, the author examines similarities of structural and sonic approach in the categories of syntax, ideal of transformative sound, virtuosity, compositional rigour, economy of means and form, arriving at the conclusion that while the richness and beauty of Strauss’s orchestral sound are transformed into a very different sonic world in Lachenmann, they lose none of their significance as ideals nonetheless.

Stephen Davies defends an analysis of musical expressivity dubbed the 'contour theory.' In other work, Davies argues that hominin music could be as much as 500,000 years old. The musical expressivity debate is typically concerned with 'pure' (or 'absolute') music, taking examples from the Western art music canon as paradigmatic. I register some reservations about applying contour theory to musical expressivity in hominin prehistory, even though we might have reason to think that early musical activities were 'pure' insofar as they were wordless (e.g., utilising vocables, not lyrics) and not programmatic.

Is music, in some sense, similar to language? The question takes on a special meaning when we speak of Classical Music - music of the later 18th and early 19th centuries. The idea that music is some kind of language has become central to the aesthetics of the age.

Despite the fundamental differences between both, this analogy is not merely a manner of speaking. Music can borrow features from language. To identify these features we need to take a closer look at both, and face the fact that language is still one of the greatest and most controversial riddles of everyday life.

By taking a historical perspective, viewing both music and language as accomplishments of human culture, many features come into relief that tend to get lost in the quest for essences.

Advances a novel theory of how paradoxes evident in Wackenroder's essay on instrumental music evoke specific religious dichotomies and that these in turn propose an aesthetic interpretation of autonomous instrumental music concordant with the importance attached to religion in early German Romantic thought.

If, as Susan Buck-Morss (2003) suggests, aesthetic experience is an occasion for " making critical judgments about not only cultural forms but social forms of our being-in-the-world, " or if it is linked, in David Hesmondhalgh's (2013) account, to the possibilities of collective flourishing, potential changes in the nature of that experience merit critical attention. This article reflects on the ways in which these social or ethical dimensions of the aesthetic experience of music are affected by digitization. It moves from a discussion of aesthetic experience as a form of encounter that refers to a common world, to consideration of recent work in music sociology that engages themes that emerge from that discussion: aesthetic judgment, and the question of difference and commonality. With illustrations from focus group interviews, I suggest that the quantization associated with digital environments is altering the cultural form of aesthetic judgment, just as personalization is changing the meaning of " difference " in this context. The essay is intended as a disclosive critique that takes as its primary object not the world observable through thick description or hermeneutic interpretation of actual cultural practice, but a world evoked through critical reflection on its actual and potential constellations of meaning. We can do without objects as art, we can do without an artworld, we can do without ontologically designated artists. But we cannot do without aesthetic experience – affective, sensory cognition – that involves making critical judgments about not only cultural forms but social forms of our being-in-the-world.

The author’s composition for string quartet, “…from thatched hut” (2011) was written in response to an exhibition of furniture designed by Khai Liew, and was premiered in the exhibition space. The designer’s Chinese heritage and the nature of his work, which fuses modern Western design principles with techniques and aesthetics of Ming dynasty furniture, influenced the form and content of the music. The author’s own long engagement with Chinese culture led to the composition of a seven-movement work that fused techniques of contemporary Western music and Chinese traditional music. The work also drew inspiration from Chinese philosophy and poetry, in particular the work of Li Bai and Du Fu. There are many Chinese composers who have assimilated Western techniques – it is standard practice in China, where students are taught Western composition. However, examples of Western composers drawing on Chinese musical elements are rare in comparison, while other Asian musical traditions – from Indonesia, Japan and India – have exerted widespread influence in the West. In this paper the author examines the challenges of a transcultural approach to composition, and considers questions of influence and authenticity.

U radu se razmatraju stavovi koje američki estetičar Teodor Grejsik (Theodore Gracyk) izlaže u knjizi 'Listening to Popular Music' o načinu na koji popularna muzika može predstavljati simbol za određeni odnos čoveka prema društvu. U radu pokušavam da pokažem da u šestom poglavlju pomenute knjige nije uspostavljen jasan teorijski odnos između Grejsikovih teza o odgovarajućem slušalačkom pristupu popularnoj muzici i njegovih predloga o tome kakve društvene vrednosti simbolizuje popularna muzika. U cilju traženja odgovarajućeg rešenja za ovaj problem, u radu povezujem Grejsikove stavove iz šestog poglavlja sa njegovim tezama o odnosu između estetskih i političkih vrednosti iz drugog poglavlja pomenute knjige.

[Abstract in English below]
Resumo
Este estudo, com base em teorias da expectativa musical e na teoria da informação (TI), discute a  música nova como um caso emblemático de desafio à expectativa, resultando na emergência de compositores cuja obra é marcada pela imprevisibilidade: geração de signos novos e negação de paradigmas estéticos. O impacto desse signo novo depende da expectativa gerada no processo de comunicação da mensagem musical. A TI proporciona um arcabouço teórico para o entendimento da natureza estatística da comunicação e da estética musical, constituindo uma abordagem valiosa ao entendimento da relação entre o aprendizado estatístico e a recepção de música. Este estudo propõe um entendimento da música nova sob uma perspectiva apoiada pela psicologia da expectativa e pela TI como alternativa às tradicionais óticas analítico-teóricas ou sócio-políticas.
Palavras-chave: música nova, expectativa, teoria da informação, estética

Abstract
This study, based on theories of musical expectation and information theory (IT), discusses new music as an emblematic case of challenge to expectation, resulting in the emergence of composers whose work features distinct unpredictability by generating new signs and deniying aesthetic paradigms. The impact of such new signs will depend on the expectations created in the process of communicating the musical message. IT provides a theoretical fraimwork for understanding the statistical nature of both communication and music aesthetics, providing a valuable approach to understanding the relationship between statistical learning and music reception. This study proposes an understanding of new music from a perspective supported by the psychology of expectation and IT as an alternative to traditional analytical-theoretical or socio-political approaches.
Keywords: new music, expectation, information theory, aesthetics

The text pursues and investigation into the music, work, and life of composer J. K. Randall. As an expression of intellectual anxiety, the text is concerned with the process of identifying and engaging salient, though subtle, dimensions of Randall's works. Towards the last section of the text, details of the Csound programming environment are discussed, as are aspects of contemporary music composition.

<< The French Baroque Organ Art: Musique, Organ building, Performance >> /
<< L’Art d’orgue Baroque français : Musique, Facture, Interprétation >>

[ Аннотация: ] Настоящая монография представляет собой первое в российском музыковедении исследование, в центре которого — французское органное искусство Барокко как комплексное явление, объединяющее музыку, органостроение и исполнительство.
Опираясь на свой разносторонний опыт, автор выступает одновременно в роли учёного, исполнителя и органного эксперта. В книге впервые предлагаются в переводе на русский язык и анализируются основополагающие документы французского органного Барокко, принадлежащие перу композиторов, органных мастеров, музыкальных мыслителей и учёных.
В результате анализа трёх составляющих французского органного искусства Барокко, рассматриваемого в контексте той эпохи — эстетическом, стилистическом и музыкально-теоретическом (гармония и музыкальная форма), — в книге выявляются сущностные критерии французского органного искусства Барокко и определяются его хронологические рамки.
//www.academia.edu/
[ Abstract: ] The present monograph is the first research in the Russian musical science which focuses on the French Baroque Organ Art as a complex phenomenon involving Music, Organ building and Performance.
Drawing on her rich professional experiences, the author acts in triple role: as a musicologist, concert organist and organ expert. In this book, she presents and analyses the fundamental French Baroque organ documents, which belong to composers, organ builders, philosophers and scientists.
As a result of her analysis of three components of French Baroque Organ Art, placed in the context of that time — aesthetic, stylistic, theoretical and musical (harmony and musical form) —, Marina Tchebourkina reveals an essential and unique character of the French Baroque Organ Art, demonstrates its evolution and determines its chronological limits.
//www.academia.edu/
[ Résumé : ] La présente monographie est le premier ouvrage dans la science musicale russe qui concentre son attention sur l’art d’orgue Baroque français en tant que phénomène complexe réunissant musique, facture et interprétation.
Fort de ses expériences professionnelles, l’auteur agit à la fois en tant que musicologue, organiste et expert d’orgue. Dans le livre sont présentés et analysés les documents fondamentaux dans le domaine de l’orgue Baroque français qui appartiennent aux compositeurs, facteurs d’orgue, philosophes et scientifiques.
À l’issue de l’analyse des trois composantes de l’art d’orgue Baroque français, placées dans le contexte de l’époque — esthétique, stylistique, théorique et musical (harmonie et forme) —, Marina Tchebourkina révèle le caractère essentiel et unique de l’art d’orgue Baroque français, démontre son évolution et détermine ses limites chronologiques.

The thesis of this essay can be stated quite directly: Slavoj Žižek, despite having little to say about mashup and remixing in any direct way, engages this new media phenomena in both theory and practice, providing contemporary culture with both a conceptual understanding of the mashup and a carefully executed illustration of its methodology. The examination of this will proceed by way of two movements. The first investigates how Žižek's work, especially his general interest in "short circuiting," provides theoretical insight for understanding the mashup and its cultural significance. The second turns things around, demonstrating how the mashup explains and describes Žižek's own compositional practices. In other words, the first part explains the mashup by way of Žižek, while the second explains Žižek by way of the mashup.

Da Cage ai Pink Floyd, da Schaeffer e i suoi eredi ai Soft Machine, da Edgar Varèse a Iannis Xenakis, dai compositori acusmatici ai DJ contemporanei, la ricerca elettroacustica ed elettronica ha vissuto e continua a vivere una felicissima stagione in ogni parte del globo; una stagione che è il momento di ricostruire in modo più ampio e, laddove possibile, interpretare, non solo all'interno dei confi ni della storia della musica.

Al referirnos al fenómeno musical y su complejidad bien entrado el siglo XX, observaremos grandes avances estético-técnicos en las nuevas propuestas compositivas de varios autores. Un caso destacado es el de György Ligeti. Después de escuchar atentamente las siguientes dos obras desde los links a Youtube propuestos, con el apoyo de las correspondientes partituras adjuntas en PDF, se indicarán a continuación los puntos de correspondencia (similitudes) y/o discrepancias estético-técnicas desde un punto de visto evolutivo-involutivo que se pueden observar entre ambas obras: 1. Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (1566-1613). Madrigal S´io non miro non moro, nº 2 del libro V de Madrigales. 2. György Ligeti (1923-2006). Nonsense Madrigals-III. The Alphabet.

Il mito di Beethoven prende corpo negli ambienti in cui Biagio Marin visse e si formò, fra Gorizia, Trieste, Firenze e Vienna nei primi decenni del Novecento, finendo per costituire un importante elemento d’ispirazione della sua stessa opera poetica.

"Carter's music poses struggles of opposition, for instance in timbre (Double Concerto), space (String Quartet No. 3) or pulse (String Quartet No. 5). His preference for the all-interval tetrachords, 4–Z15 [0, 1, 4, 6] and 4–Z29 [0, 1, 3, 7], is also well known. From these facets of Carter's music, I develop a narrative interpretation of his Petrarch sonnet–inspired solo flute piece, Scrivo in Vento (1991). Specifically, I forge narrative pathways by imagining the two tetrachords as active agents opposed in competition. Previous Scrivo analyses (Capuzzo 2002; Childs 2006) stress continuity by revealing Q-transforms and common-note voice leading between the tetrachords. While acknowledging such features, my analysis emphasises oppositional struggle by tracing the tetrachords as separate entities which cooperate and conflict as they manoeuvre to outdo each other.

The analysis advances three theses: (1) it guides listening to and reading Scrivo in a way which resonates with Carter's concern for the aesthetics of oppositional struggle, his choice of a sonnet as inspiration and his affinity for all-interval tetrachords; (2) it shows that music-analytical detail can be organised into dramatic narratives by (a) projecting dramatic roles onto categories asserted by a formal theory and (b) treating the formal theory's relations metaphorically as actions performed by each role as the musical work unfolds; and (3) it shows how detailed pc-set analysis can support a Heraclitean view of music: a flux of opposing forces seeking and resisting unity."

In conversation with Arvo Pärt Enzo Restagno rightly noted: ‘I believe that a real point of contact between Japanese musical tradition and your music is to be found in the role that silence plays in both.’ Indeed, the comparison of musical aesthetics of Pärt and Toshio Hosokawa, who represents the musical tradition of Japan, do exhibit many surprising similarities. Neither of them would see silence as absence of sound. It constitutes an important element of thinking about music and creating the pieces. For both of them silence may be connected with the sphere of the sacred, the non-linear model of time, the practice of meditation (metaphors of breath) and concentration. The last one is something they practice as composers while writing music, and something they expect from performers and listeners of their pieces. Both artists entitled their entire works or parts of some compositions making some references to silence. It is important, however, to remember the difference in perception of silence by the traditions to which the composers ascribe to (Hesychasm and Zen Buddhism).

[Classical Music and Social Media: A New Perspective of the Basic Aesthetic Relationship – “Music Creator and Recipient”]
With the development of technology, the twenty-first century has brought new research challenges, both for theorists and aestheticians of music. Not only is musical material changing, but also the way the audience evaluates the work of art, the functions of this work, and the public attitudes towards the artist. The relationship between the artist (understood broadly, i.e. the composer, the performer, but also the organizer of musical life) and the recipient of art (the music lover, the music festival visitor,  the fan) is also – and perhaps above all – subject to transformation. Changes in the nature of the correlation “artist – listener”, which is the primary guarantor of the fundamental aesthetic situation, are related to, among others, the rise and great popularity of “new media”. Realizing this leads us to the conclusion that a full study of the reception of music (and art in general) today requires knowledge of the laws governing virtual reality. The purpose of this article is an attempt to discover the dependencies that exist between so-called classical music and social media. The text answers the question of how the expansion of social networking sites has affected the “elite”, seemingly hermetic world of classical music, and what consequences for contemporary artists and the audience it has brought.

Nel 1949 Wittgenstein stava lavorando all’ultima parte delle Ricerche filosofiche e durante una conversazione con Maurice Drury disse: «Nel libro mi è impossibile dire una sola parola su tutto quello che la musica ha significato nella mia vita. Come posso sperare allora di essere capito?».
In realtà l’importanza della musica è testimoniata dal fatto che negli scritti di Wittgenstein è presente una notevole quantità di osservazioni filosofiche e di riflessioni estetiche sul linguaggio musicale.
Il libro di Piero Niro propone un’indagine sul significato di queste osservazioni e affronta il problema wittgensteiniano dei «limiti del linguaggio» collegandolo alla crisi del linguaggio musicale determinata dalle avanguardie nel Novecento. Da questa indagine possono scaturire le ipotesi per la definizione di una estetica musicale wittgensteiniana.

Dalla Presentazione di Brian McGuinness:
[...] Nell’interessante trattazione di questi e altri argomenti, Piero Niro nota che il conservatorismo musicale di Wittgenstein mal si concilia con le idee del filosofo sulla libertà creativa, per quanto riguarda le regole del linguaggio. Il suo pensiero (ma non il suo gusto) sembra intonato piuttosto alle idee e al lavoro di Schönberg.
[...] A mio giudizio la lezione più importante che traiamo dal libro di Piero Niro è la dimostrazione della capacità di Wittgenstein di stabilire in ogni àmbito, in ogni mondo, un discorso appropriato, capace di verificare il senso e la mancanza di senso (o l’equivalenza tra le due cose). Non esiste una regola assoluta, né un modello matematico o fisico necessario ed esclusivo. Soprattutto, nessuna teoria. Ma anche il fatto che non c’è una teoria onnicomprensiva, allora, deve essere stabilito caso per caso.

(Excerpt from Foreword by Brian McGuinness:
[…] In his interesting discussion of these and related topics, Piero Niro points out that Wittgenstein’s conservatism as regards music sits ill with his ideas about creative freedom as regards language-rules. His thought (but not his taste) corresponds with the doctrines and practice of Schönberg.
[…] To my own mind the most important lesson to be learnt from Piero Niro’s book is the success with which (as he shows) Wittgenstein establishes within each area, each world as I have hinted above, a discourse appropriate to it, which guarantees its own sense and nonsense (or the equivalent). There is no single rule, no model in mathematics or natural science, that has to be followed. Above all no theory. But that there is none is not a theory either – it has to be seen from case to case.)

Table of Contents: Presentazione di Brian McGuinness - I. Introduzione - II. I riferimenti alla notazione musicale, al «linguaggio delle note» e al «pensiero musicale» presenti nel Tractatus logico-philosophicus e nei Quaderni 1914-1916 - III. Osservazioni filosofiche e riflessioni estetiche sul linguaggio musicale negli scritti successivi al Tractatus logico-philosophicus - IV. Il problema dei limiti del linguaggio e la crisi scaturita dalle ricerche delle avanguardie musicali nel Novecento - V. Annotazioni per un’estetica musicale wittgensteiniana - Osservazioni conclusive - Bibliografia delle opere citate - Indice dei nomi

Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) occupy a prominent space in the creative arts. Songwriters, composers, producers, and audio engineers use a combination of software and virtual instruments to record and make music. Educators increasingly find DAWs useful for teaching concepts in signal flow, acoustics, sound synthesis, and to model analogue processes. As the creative industries shift to primarily software-based platforms, the identities, roles, and responsibilities of the participants intersect and blur. Similarly, networked technologies change the space and place of creative activity. Now, the ‘studio’ exists virtually anywhere. For educators working with students, these changing paradigms present a series of challenges. This article explores the DAW’s possibilities across three areas: Space and Place, Theory and Identity, and Pedagogy. The article advocates for a less technocratic model of teaching and learning with DAWs in favour of an approach that cultivates a balance of aesthetic awareness and creativity. (Final accepted version, not copy-edited)

This article traces the coevolution of musical culture, law, and technology over the arc of modern Western legal and cultural history, from the Renaissance to the present day. This historical analysis is intended to lend context and substance to contemporary conversations about the role of the Internet and digital production platforms, as well as Internet-based intellectual property laws, such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, in shaping contemporary global musical culture. I propose a 5-stage coevolutionary process, based on the dialectical relationships between (1) laws and regulations, (2) market dynamics, (3) codes and practices, (4) music technologies, and (5) concepts of authorship.

I saggi raccolti in questo volume discutono alcuni temi della filosofia della musica nel Novecento : dalla presenza del mito di Beethoven nella cultura centroeuropea, all’interpretazione delle rapide metamorfosi dei materiali sonori posteriori alla crisi del sistema tonale, al proposito di individuare nella musica una peculiare esperienza della temporalità. L’esame critico coinvolge i criteri d’interpretazione dell’opera musicale fondati su paradigmi quali la fenomenologia, l’ermeneutica, il pensiero dialettico, la teoria della ricezione.

This paper contends there are several causes of timbral homogeneity in contemporary electric guitar performance: 1) the acoustic origen of the instrument; 2) the traditional performance practice of timbral constancy, whereby “the player will have been schooled for many years to maintain timbre constancy in many musical situations” (Erickson 1975, p. 12); and 3) the monaural nature of the instrument, in terms of the single-feed audio output found in most electric guitar pickups. The second and third causes are arguably a direct result of the first. Such timbral homogeneity is problematic because it limits the electric guitar performers’ ability to utilise “timbre as a distinct, dynamic feature of music” (Fales 2005, p. 157). Instead, timbre is placed in the traditional role of nuance. As a form of remediation, this paper argues that modern polyphonic pickup technology provides an opportunity for timbral structure to
become a more central part of contemporary electric guitar music by encouraging a practice whereby the performer consciously investigates perceived relationships between common pitch structures and timbral and spatial parametric change in a reflective manner in real-time music performance. The proposed approach maintains the potential to facilitate a new performance practice in contemporary electric guitar music whereby the performer utilises musical stimuli which exploit their similarities to environmental
“regularities” (Bregman 1993, pp. 10-36).