Feeling sound

I have been listening to electronically produced and mediated music for about 45 years and I can clearly recall the thrill of early performances I attended, broadcasts and recordings I listened to. What was it that attracted me to this new soundworld? How would I describe the sensations (both physical and emotional) that such sound elicited then and still does now? On some of these occasions I would describe my response as ‘transcendental’. My aim in this chapter is to encourage a vocabulary of describing responses to electroacoustic sound – in this I treat the perception system and the body as inseparable; the psychology of being thrilled is clearly not just a mental act but profoundly embodied. I will focus on music made with technology, whether in studios or produced live, and that is finally heard through loudspeakers – ‘electroacoustic’ sound