Acousmatic experience and musical movement : a pluralistic conception
This thesis attempts to reconcile the intuition that musical experience involves physical movement, such as bowing movement, with the acousmatic thesis. The first intuition is part of what I call the Datum. The acousmatic thesis, most notably defended by Roger Scruton (1999; 2009), holds that musical sounds are heard as detached from their sources of production. While the acousmatic thesis has conceptual force, it seems unable to honour the Datum. Chapter 1 sets out in more details this apparent dichotomy between the Datum and the acousmatic thesis defended by Scruton. Chapter 2 draws on points of historical interest - from Aristotle, Newton, Leibniz, and Descartes - that may help to explain what conception of musical movement we hold. Chapter 3 is pivotal to illustrate some of the points raised in previous chapters as well as to shed light on the complexity of musical movement (in particular melodic and sound-producing movement), and various forms of acousmatic experience. The acousmatic thesis that I gesture at at the end of the thesis elaborates upon the descriptive phenomenology of the beginning of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto and Ligeti's AtmospheÌres. Chapter 4 critically engages with the debate
Jacob, SalomeÌ
Acousmatic experience and musical movement : a pluralistic conception. This thesis attempts to reconcile the intuition that musical experience involves physical movement, such as bowing movement, with the acousmatic thesis. The first intuition is part of what I call the Datum. The acousmatic thesis, most notably defended by Roger Scruton (1999; 2009), holds that musical sounds are heard as detached from their sources of production. While the acousmatic thesis has conceptual force, it seems unable to honour the Datum. Chapter 1 sets out in more details this apparent dichotomy between the Datum and the acousmatic thesis defended by Scruton. Chapter 2 draws on points of historical interest - from Aristotle, Newton, Leibniz, and Descartes - that may help to explain what conception of musical movement we hold. Chapter 3 is pivotal to illustrate some of the points raised in previous chapters as well as to shed light on the complexity of musical movement (in particular melodic and sound-producing movement), and various forms of acousmatic experience. The acousmatic thesis that I gesture at at the end of the thesis elaborates upon the descriptive phenomenology of the beginning of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto and Ligeti's AtmospheÌres. Chapter 4 critically engages with the debate
experience musical movement pluralistic conception attempt_reconcile intuition musical experience involve physical movement bow movement thesis first intuition part call notably defend person hold musical sound heard detach source production conceptual force seem unable honour set detail apparent dichotomy defend draws point historical interest aristotle newton leibniz descartes may_help explain conception musical movement hold pivotal illustrate point raise previous well shed_light complexity musical movement particular melodic sound producing movement various_form experience gesture end elaborate upon descriptive phenomenology begin second critically engage debate