Acoustic phenomena as a model for music composition: representing acoustic phenomena in musical composition through the extrapolative and interpolative modelling of the phenomena's characteristics and behaviour

Masters Research - Master of Philosophy (MPhil)The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between acoustic phenomena and their incorporation into musical compositions. It seeks to identify composers that have represented acoustic phenomena in musical compositions through the examination of their work and compositional practices. This research attempts to explore new and existing methods of modelling acoustic phenomena for music through the creation of new musical works. Referencing acoustic phenomena is evident in the works of recent music composers such as Steve Reich, Alvin Lucier, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Gerard Grisey and La Monte Young. These composers either utilise the acoustic phenomena as a musical focal point or represent them in their compositional approach; these two approaches are achieved through the use of instrumental techniques, electronic mediums or by presenting phenomena as a natural acoustic occurrence. Compositional practices involve the modelling of the behaviour and characteristics of acoustic phenomena and the types of modelling approaches observed will be categorised as either extrapolative or interpolative. In addition to the observation of techniques utilised by these composers, this research addresses the potential use of acoustic phenomena such as phase shifting, resonance and delay as models for musical works. Models for particular acoustic phenomena are created in order to demonstrate their use in both interpolative and extrapolative ways and the resultant musical works will be used as case studies in order to analyse the effectiveness of the phenomena as models