Hybrid Approaches to Tensile Discourse in Post-Acousmatic Composition

Abstract

The commonalities of technology focussed creative practices of acousmatic music and popular electronic music (PEM) genres has led composers of these genres to share an interest in using timbre as a tool for creating dramatic expressions. In recent years, scholarly discussion has grown around unintentional similarities between, and intentional attempts to fuse, the compositional languages of PEM and acousmatic music. However, an area that remains unexplored is the nature of dramatic tension and resolution, a phenomenon Dennis Smalley refers to as “tensile discourse”, within works that leverage the expressive musical discourses of the two styles. In this thesis, I carry out an exploration into the compositional effects of overlaying and combining the discourses of acousmatic music and PEM with an aim of uncovering new approaches to tensile expression. I first provide an overview of the current scholarly literature surrounding the timbral dramatic devices inherent in the processes of acousmatic music and PEM. Following this, I discuss how these devices were used and combined in creative ways in the development of an original 13-work compositional portfolio which charts an informed process of fusion of the two styles. Through my discussion of the processes undertaken to create the compositional portfolio, as well as the analysis of the works themselves, I outline various methods for portraying timbral dramatic gestures within works of PEM and acousmatic music fusion, as well as the key methods for combining and overlaying these in creative approaches to generate hybrid forms of tensile discourse. This discussion explores how the discourses of the two styles might work together towards the same artistic function of generating tensile discourse to contribute to a cohesive gestalt expression of musical drama.