CLARKE AnalysingElectroacousticMusic 2012

Analysing Electroacoustic Music: an Interactive Aural Approach
Author(s): MICHAEL CLARKE

Source: Music Analysis , October 2012, Vol. 31, No. 3 (October 2012), pp. 347-380
Published by: Wiley
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DOI: 10. 1 1 1 l/j. 1468-2249.2012.00339.X
MICHAEL CLARKE
Analysing Electro acoustic Music: an Interactive

Aural Approach
Traditionally, most Western music analysis has started from a written tra
by the composer - the score - and the analytical process has focused largel
a set of discrete data relating primarily to pitch and rhythm in the form of
For the analyst of electroacoustic music, however, such an approach is not
possible or meaningful. The music may have been generated directly onto
computer by the composer, with no need for a score, and may use source
(for example, a recording of a thunderstorm) that do not easily map
traditional Western notation. So where might the analysis begin of a work
perhaps has no score, no notes and no instruments?
In recent years there has been an increase in the number of publica
concerning the analysis of electroacoustic music. These include, for ex
Françoise Barrière and Gerald Bennett (1997), Lelio Camilleri and Denis
Smalley (1998), Thomas Licata (2002), Stéphane Roy (2003) and Mary Simoni
(2006). A variety of analytical strategies have been employed in such analyses,
and in many cases interesting results have been obtained. However, all have faced
the same two problems, which have never been fully resolved: how to analyse
music which exists primarily in sound, not on the page, and how to communicate
the results of such an analysis.
In investigating the problem and proposing a possible solution, this article
begins with a discussion of the nature of electroacoustic music and the issues
involved in transcribing such works. The second part of the article introduces a
new approach, interactive aural analysis (Clarke 2005), which I first devised for
an analysis of Jonathan Harvey's Mortuos Piango , Vivos Voco (Harvey 1980 and
Clarke 2006) and which I have recently developed and expanded in analyses of
Smalley's Wind Chimes (Smalley 1987 and Clarke 2010) and Pierre Boulez's
Anthèmes 2 (Boulez 1997 and Clarke forthcoming).1
I. The Nature of Electroacoustic Music
Beyond a Striated Two-Dimensional Lattice
There are, of course, different styles and genres of electroacoustic mu

many cases scores do not exist, and the nature of the sounds used and
Music Analysis , 3 1 /iii (20 12) 347

© 2012 The Author.
Music Analysis © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
and 350 Main Street, Maiden, MA 02148, USA

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348 MICHAEL CLARKE
that they are employed make transcr

ficult. The problem of notation is n
highlights deeper differences about th
in which they are used and, in man
works are formed. The analysis of We
on the score, this being the primary t
projects considering music as it is perf
as an essential reference point. Wes
primarily with what Trevor Wishar
dimensional lattice of data: pitch and
one includes the somewhat limited re
are striated, in distinct steps, and the
discrete, so exact data about a set o
unambiguously available on paper (e
ence). There may well be many issues i
and the relationships between them, b
defined. Usually, factors that might b
intonation or rubato) or parameters t
as dynamics or subtle timbrai varia
significance for analysis.
However, the analyst of electroacous
defined set of data (or at least not in a
is a precise set of data, but this is o
electroacoustic music exists primari
written score. With fixed-media piece
as 'tape music'), often the end produ
tape, a CD or a computer hard driv
performance and an electroacoustic
tionally notated part for the acoust
component, whether live or pre-recor
traditional ways. Where scores of elec
mally provide precise data of the type
frequently made after the composition
primarily to help with sound difřus
performers and the electronics and th
of the sounds. The score of Stockh
example. The elegant graphic depiction
tive rather than prescriptive: it hel
coordinate with it, but for the most pa
sounds. The realisation score,3 how
information about the sounds and how
is in a very different form to a tradit
to recreate the sounds stage by stage using the equipment Stockhausen
employed. Unlike a score, it cannot be read linearly, in real time, as music.
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Analysing Electroacoustic Music 349
Spectromorphology
One obvious solution, and one attempted by m

music, might be to begin by creating a score or
the basis for an analysis. However, with many el
straightforward matter. First, such transcriptio
Furthermore, the sounds used will often not
dimensional lattice of striated data of traditio
structed in unconventional microtonal units or va
striated units. For example, John Chowning in S
new scale system with 'octaves' based on the r
divided into nine equal steps. The whole harmoni
Piango , Vivos Voco is based on the microtonally t
Jean-Claude Risset, in the second movement of h
depicts the falling atomic bomb, and the late
involved, using a technique developed from the S
an infinitely falling glissando with no appare
computer music may be equally problematic
notational practices meaningfully. In attempting
often some form of timeline is used with propo
Indeed, pitch and rhythm in their tradition
musical components. They may be secondary
timbre, dynamics or spatial location. Imagine
wind chimes. A texture created from these reco
time as different layers, each processed in diffe
the sound more or less resonant, to emphasise pa
to change the dynamic shape of the sounds b
attack at the start of sound) or based on rec
different materials (for example, metal, ceramic
mix. The musical shape of this passage might ari
and quality of the texture and variations in
description in fact closely matches a passage in S
To take a rather different example, the open
(1982) has a less dense texture in which the subt
is initially more important. It is based on beauti
from a source not traditionally regarded as m
their lids. The beginning comprises a succession
variations in articulation, timbre and resonance
phrases. It is perhaps worth noting that to a l
uses the original unprocessed recordings, illustra
scription results not just from the use of techn
sound as well. Although pitch also plays a signific
aspects of such a passage in any detail using
difficult (one could make the same point about m
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350 MICHAEL CLARKE
Ex. 1 Jonathan Harvey, Mortuos Piango: t

Section 3
subtle pitch inflections). What is being transformed and musically sculpted is

what Smalley has termed the 'spectromorphology' of a sound: how its internal
spectral content is shaped over time (Smalley 1986 and 1997).
Even where more traditional musical source material is present, the concept of
notes may not be very helpful. For example, in Harvey's Mortuos Piango, Vivos
Voco , in the transition between Sections 2 and 3, the sound of a boy's voice
singing the syllable 'pre' (from the Latin preces) gradually changes into the timbre
of a bell. This is done by cross-fading the recording of the real voice with a
re-synthesis of the same timbre using sine tones. The re-synthesised partíais of
the voice then glissando to the appropriate frequencies for the bell timbre.
Further transformations to the bell timbre then effect a 'spectral modulation'
from C (260 Hz) to F (347 Hz), at which point a recording of the bell transposed
to F marks the start of the new section. Ex. 1, from Clarke (2006), represents this
transformation, approximated using traditional notation. The notation here
represents not complete notes but the component partíais of timbres. The voice
and the bell are apparently linked seamlessly, and it is what happens inside the
notes that matters most, both aurally and analytically. What is more, this is not
just a virtuosic display of transformational technique for purely decorative pur-
poses: the frequency manipulations here are central to the structure of the work.
Harvey refers to the process of leading from the focal frequency of one section
to that of the next as 'spectral modulation'. As this example demonstrates,
whereas traditionally it might be possible to consider notes as the basic building
blocks of music, in electroacoustic music important structural functions may
occur at a level below that of notes.
Continuous Transformational Processes
The example from Mortuos Piango illustrates the importance of transformational

processes in electroacoustic music. The division of sound into discrete events
may therefore be problematic at times. To a greater or lesser extent such music
may be formed by continuous unbroken transformations. Imagine, for example,
a vocal sound which is transformed seamlessly, almost imperceptibly, into the
sound of bees and then back again, or the sound of the sea gradually taking on
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vocal qualities. Metamorphoses such as these m

whole section of music, and often it is most help
terms of transformational processes and the par
than as a succession of discrete events. Wishar
a detailed account of various types of sound metamorphosis in which he
frequently uses examples from his own works, especially Vox 5 (1986), as
illustrations.
An example from the repertoire of an extended transformational process
shaping a passage can be found at the opening of Barry Truax's Riverrun (1986).
Like many of Truax's works, Riverrun is based on superposed layers of granular
textures. Such textures comprise many tiny grains distributed randomly within
prescribed boundaries. To analyse such music is to investigate the changing
distribution of grains in each layer and explore how these interact when super-
posed to create larger scale musical shapes. There are no notes as such, no
small-scale events even that can be meaningfully notated or analysed discretely;
rather, the music is about the evolution of a rich texture sustained in this case for
a period of more than five minutes.
The problems described here are not exclusive to electroacoustic music.
There are many examples of contemporary acoustic music which do not fit easily
into the traditional notational grid or where timbre and texture are more impor-
tant than pitch and rhythm. It may be that some of the solutions proposed below
for electroacoustic music might also be of relevance in those contexts.
II. Representing Electroacoustic Music
Graphic Scores
Despite the difficulty of notating electroacoustic music, most who have engaged
in analysis of this repertoire have resorted to some form of visual transcription.
Given the unsuitability of traditional notation in many cases, one solution is to
use graphic symbols to represent different sounds and to place these symbols on
a timeline, an approach which can be useful for presenting the overall shape of
a work and showing recurring gestures or textures. A good example is Roy's
(1996) annotated listening score of Francis Dhomont's Points de fuite, in which
he annotates a graphic score to indicate the hierarchical levels of his implicative
analysis of the work (Ex. 2). Another example is Leigh Landy's (1991) analysis
of Jean-Claude Risset's Sud . Here Landy uses two different charts, one to show
large-scale structure, the other to provide more detailed information. He
includes elements of traditional notation and in some cases also annotates the
symbols in order to give more precise pitch information.
However, the use of graphic symbols often presents severe limitations. First,
they are not standardised (nor could they be) and therefore cannot be read from
the page as a traditional score can. They are most useful in conjunction with
listening to the recording, but then the problem of quickly locating specific
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352 MICHAEL CLARKE
Ex. 2 Francis Dhomont, Points de fui
passages on a CD arises. Helpfully, David Hirst, in his analysis (2008) of

Smalley's Wind Chimes , uses software to link a scrolling graphic score (and also
sonograms) to an audio playback of the work.4
Furthermore, it is often difficult for graphic symbols to represent, except in a
very simplified way, the subde and complex spectromorphological transforma-
tions which frequently occur within sounds and textures in electroacoustic
music. Graphic scores can play a useful role at times as a way of presenting the
general shape of a work, but on their own they are rarely able to show sufficient
information to inform detailed analytical discussion.
Sonograms
A popular alternative to graphic scores, especially more recently, has been the use
of sonograms printed as examples on the page. A sonogram is a visual represen-
tation of data generated by computer analysis of a sound. The computer divides
the sound into temporal windows that are then analysed. The sonogram displays
frequency (y-axis) and amplitude (colour/grey-scale) data on a time grid (x-axis).
In theory it shows everything about a sound: every frequency component at every
time, along with its amplitude. The apparent scientific exactitude and complete-
ness of the sonogram have made this seem a very attractive option.5 Indeed, in
a number of situations sonograms can be extremely helpful, but they do have
significant limitations, especially in printed form. To begin with, they cannot be
read in detail by the human eye - it is difficult to see harmonic relationships from
the page and impossible to get more than a general sense of the colour/grey-scale
gradations relating to amplitude. When it comes to the very spectromorphologi-
cal details that are so important for electroacoustic music, such as subtle changes
in the timbrai envelope of a sound, a printed sonogram is often of little use.
Perhaps even more important, although the sonogram shows 'everything' it does
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Ex. 3 Harvey, Mortuos Piango : sonograms
not group data perceptually. It is the totality o

window that is represented. Thus in complex t
different sounds are intermingled, overlapping
grams frequently confuse rather than clarify the
serve to isolate information about individual soun
Analysis requires a perceptually meaningful reduct
sonograms can lead to an explosion of data (breaki
without revealing meaningful relationships within
complex textures, the human ear normally per
computer when it comes to analysing sound and g
timbres or complex multiple events into contrapu
that may be very clear to the human ear may not
The usefulness of a sonogram depends very muc
Take for example two passages from Harvey's Mor
sonogram of the previously discussed transition
(Ex. 3a) can helpfully show the glissandi of the
another. It also shows where vibrato is presen
relatively simple texture, and each strand in this
theless, the amount of detailed information that
the significant harmonic relationships described ea
the work, however, is a different matter. This co
many bells ringing at different speeds and pitche
ping in the spectrum. Sonograms of this passage (E
proliferation of data confuses the eye, and where
components into sound objects (i.e. separate bell
not. It may be possible to see different strands in
senting different partíais, but how these relate to
rhythmic articulation might be are hard to deter
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354 MICHAEL CLARKE
Ex. 4 Harvey, Mortuos Piango : algebr
is in fact an elegant and carefully

chaos. Separating parts within a text
significant challenge for software alg
Ex. 4, adapted from Clarke (2006),
the pitch structure of this opening
to the start of this passage). Traditi
approximates the pitch content of t
annotation beneath may reveal the
and 'V' respectively refer to the t
numerals, when used, indicate par
timbre of the bell is used. (The su
secondary strike tone of the bell.) T
multiplication in the Boulezian sen
complete vocal timbre transposed to
bell in its original transposition (wh
musically unattractive, has the adva
tionships in this passage (and the
structure), none of which can be rea
A further technical limitation of
relates to window length. The analys
windows or frames and analyses each
accurate and detailed frequency da
length. However, the longer the win
because the data from the longer d
averaged out. The durations in quest
compromise can be found. Even s
needs to look at rapid transients (im
detailed frequency information for
it can be difficult to find settings th
time and frequency. None of this is


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often too much is expected of them, and especiall

they have significant limitations that are not alw
Some of these problems are alleviated by using s
which, unlike those printed on the page, can be m
the visual experience to the aural. An examp
designed primarily for creative rather than ana
sophisticated displays and transformations. GRM
larly interesting for analysts in that it allows the u
over a sonogram display, thereby combining el
sonograms.8 Pierre Couprie's ¡Analyse also combin
with audio playback.9 As described below, a liv
created as part of this project using Max/MSP
within the environment of the interactive software.
Language
Terminology forms a major part of most analyses, but this too raises particular
problems in relation to electroacoustic music. First, whereas analysis of tonal
music involves a common vocabulary with a broad range of familiar terms,
within electroacoustic music the vocabulary and techniques are much newer and
less standardised. Sometimes a particular technique is devised by a composer in
relation to a specific work and may not be employed elsewhere in the repertoire.
An analysis of electroacoustic music therefore may have not only to define its
terminology but also to introduce the techniques themselves. In introducing such
techniques it will also be important to link the technical process with the aural
significance of what is being discussed. Once again, the printed page may not be
sufficient on its own: it may be impossible to convey the musical significance of
a new technique using the written word alone.
III. An Interactive Aural Approach

All of the issues raised above suggest that visual representations and words alone
may not be the ideal means by which to present an analysis of electroacoustic
music. Even conveying basic descriptions unambiguously can be difficult. An
approach that makes more use of the medium of the music itself - that is, sound
- alongside text and diagrams can help resolve many of the problems discussed.
And this is not only a matter of the presentation of analytical results, given the
limitations of transcriptions: the analyst needs tools that are able to interact with
the sound in a varied and flexible manner so as to make the analytical assess-
ments in the first place. Software now makes such an approach possible, and the
remainder of this article will describe the development of such a method.
Software also permits a more interactive approach to analysis in which the reader
is presented with tools with which to explore aspects of the music for themselves
alongside the author's suggested interpretations. The approach is therefore
called 'interactive aural analysis'.10

Music Analysis © 20 1 2 Blackwell Publishing

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356 MICHAEL CLARKE
The first interactive aural analysis,

was published as a book chapter w
(Clarke 2006). 11 More recently, th
relation to two more analyses of
Boulez's Anthèmes 2 (Clarke forth
style and approach and were chose
interactive aural approach: Harvey
uses data from the spectra of its sou
ties but also to structure the who
the studio was more intuitive and
Not surprisingly, the composer's o
important to the analysis, and in
significant challenge to traditiona
bines a traditionally notated violin
of these sounds. Such mixed-media w
in relating the discussion of the
transformations. In what follows,
active aural approach will be discu
works.
Aural Referencing
At its most basic, interactive aural a

ing specific passages in a work. In an
is usually done by giving bar numbe
within the text. Such referencing is
itself but, as has been discussed abov
ally is often problematic. Since verb
sounds cannot be read and heard from
of the musical events, aural referen
electroacoustic music, sometimes a
numbers (in fixed-media pieces, at le
from performance to performance1
CD can be very tedious, especially
within a work. By the time the diff
the comparison may have been los
disrupted. The simplest function o
provide a quick and automated mean
within a work. The author uses the s
clicking on a button onscreen or e
hear the exact passage instandy. Imm
ent passages anywhere in the work
played by dragging on an overview
only for presenting an analysis but
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sound directly from a CD (inserted into the CD dr

copyright is not infringed.
This approach was first used in the analysis of
specific time locations in the work. In the analysis
has been further extended so that, where appropr
but also a frequency range can be referenced. T
referencing a particular part or voice in a nota
limitations to what can be achieved, since partía
overlap in the frequency range, making it difficu
sounds in this way, and there is still some way to
do this automatically. Nonetheless, highlighting pa
within a time frame can be useful in illustrating an
aspect of the music more clearly.
Segmentation and Aural Paradigmatic Charts
A natural development from aural referencing is t

them into a chart, for example, following the gen
chart. Again, working aurally in this way can b
analytical process itself (rapidly prototyping and m
and the charts) and for the presentation of analyt
the process of segmentation in this type of music
Donin and Jonathan Goldman (2008) have discussed
approach to paradigmatic analysis, one that would
the analyst and not restrict itself exclusively to
themselves been involved in significant developme
charts, mainly in relation to acoustic music, with s
notation to recordings and then segment scores
Similarly, in interactive aural analysis the aim
segmentation but not to exclude interpretativ
pragmatic approach to the design of the charts th
responded to the context. The approach was somew
works.
For both Mortuos Piango and Wind Chimes , se
sound materials used and the transformation of these sounds rather than on
pitch or rhythmic motives, as might be the case in analysing an acoustic work.
Mortuos Piango has only two sound sources: the great tenor bell of Winchester
Cathedral and the voice of a chorister (the composer's son). Re-synthesised bells
in which the timbre is noticeably transformed (for example, with the dynamic
envelope of the sound reversed or the relative amplitudes of the partíais inverted)
form a separate category. Categories based on vocal sounds include vowel sounds
(sometimes synthetically transformed into hybrid timbres), passages of chanting,
isolated consonants and 'electronic'-sounding articulations (which are in fact
very short fragments extracted from vocal sounds). As noted earlier, glissandi


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358 MICHAEL CLARKE
play an important and distinctive r

timbres and/or pitch centres and fo
The paradigmatic chart for Mortuo
duced Ex. 5) comprises labelled butto
buttons plays the appropriate seg
paradigmatic chart, with vertical co
from left to right and from top to
segments, buttons are also provid
enabling the reader to play complet
reader to understand the overall sha
and development of each paradigm.
always possible totally to isolate eac
with a vowel sound. The point wa
mentation, but to assist the reader
their distribution and development.
basis for the discussion of the music
in the book.
In the analysis of Wind Chimes , a more detailed segmentation was considered
appropriate and was undertaken according to the general principles of Smalley' s
own influential theories of spectromorphology. Again, rather than pitch or rhyth-
mic characteristics, it is the changing timbrai shape of sounds that forms the
basis for segmentation. Spectromorphology categorises sounds on many differ-
ent levels, including spectral types (noise-node-note), morphological types
(attack-continuant-decay) and motion types (Smalley 1986). In addition, there
are categories based on the function and structural role of sounds, one of the
most important of which is the distinction between gesture and texture as
defined by Smalley (1986, pp. 81-4). The taxonomy shown in Ex. 6, a screen-
shot from the software, enables readers to hear examples of the different catego-
ries by clicking on the chart. The main division is between gestures and textures.
Within gestures further subdivision is mainly in terms of the perceived material
that produced the sound (metal, ceramic, wood, etc.). This is in fact shorthand
for describing the inner spectromorphological nature of the sounds - for
example, their spectral or morphological typology, the extent to which they are
either harmonic, nonharmonic or noise based, whether the sound is dry or
resonant, and so on. Within textures, distinctions were made, for example,
between those that were granular (comprising discernible separate components)
and those that were continuous. Textural passages may on occasion last for a
minute or more and are often not easy to divide into smaller discrete units.
Sometimes it is possible to detect stages in transformation or new layers that are
added to an existing texture and label these separately. At other times it is more
helpful to identify the overall transformations that are taking place and then
discuss their structural significance. In the division between gesture and texture,
as with other spectromorphological types, categorisation is not always clear-cut.
There is a continuum between the extremes, and the music may move across the


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Afuste Analysis , 3 1 /iii (20 12) © 20 1 2 The Author.

Music Analysis © 2012 Blackwell Publishing L

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360 MICHAEL CLARKE
Ex. 6 Denis Smalley, Wind Chimes : S
boundaries. For example, in a passag

3) comprising recordings of ceramic
packed and form a sonority in whic
the overall texture. The musical arg
texture as a whole evolves than ab
progresses, however, certain elemen
very end individual chimes articu
emerges out of a texture, and, in th
moves from classification as a textu
only way to represent in this form


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situations may stretch segmentation strategies and

charts to the limit, the fact that sound is directly
easier to present and discuss such ambiguities.
Most paradigmatic analyses of acoustic music h
music treated as such), in order to retain the poss
However, most electroacoustic music is multi-layer
and, in the context of the more detailed segmenta
different approach was needed. Segmentation here
not only of time but also of frequency: a segment
and end times and also, where appropriate, its upp
already noted, it is rarely possible to isolate a soun
frequencies. The spectral richness of most soun
different sounds will overlap in the frequency spa
impossible to disaggregate them. The aim, howe
separation but to identify sounds aurally by highli
On the paradigmatic chart, therefore, two or mor
time, each referencing a different event occurring
The paradigmatic chart does not follow a single
segment (or overlapping time segments) may ap
digm headings because they refer to different par
ously. When clicking on a segment to play it, it
versions by using different combinations of the Al
segment can be heard either with the complete freq
only those frequencies identified as belonging p
addition, it is possible to play the remainder - to h
It is easy and quick to move between these opti
combinations. This is important. Since the segmen
and only indicative, it is vital that the reader be a
limitations of what is presented and contextualise
two-dimensional segmentation is useful in help
different components of the music. It is especially
hear the distribution of paradigms through the w
how different paradigms are transformed over th
work. For pragmatic reasons (computer screen
straints), the chart was in this case set out wit
columns, and with time flowing horizontally, not v
shot of part of the aural paradigmatic chart for W
In the analysis of Anthèmes 2, there was a differe
the paradigmatic chart. One aspect of this anal
structure of Anthèmes 2 with that of the piece fro
Boulez's earlier work for solo violin without electr
is greatly expanded, both in length and by the use
structure remains almost identical to that of its p
fore, the same aural paradigmatic chart has, in


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362 MICHAEL CLARKE
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different combination of Alt and Ctrl keys is d

plays the appropriate segment for either Anthèm
third option, which allows the reader to hear the
electronic processing. Presenting the chart in th
identical structure of the two versions of the work and also allows the reader to
compare specific passages and hear how they have been expanded both in terms
of the notated violin part and by electronic processing. Ex. 8 is a Screenshot
showing part of the paradigmatic analysis for Anthèmes 1 and 2.
Segmentation itself was not such an issue with Anthèmes 2. Boulez himself
describes the work as being formed out of a set of clearly defined units which he
terms 'themes'.13 For the most part the work progresses along a single linear path
(albeit with different strands of materials interleaved in rich and complex pat-
terns), and the score gives clear clues to possible segmentation (through tempo
markings, performance indications, and so on). An earlier paradigmatic analysis
by Goldman (2001) of the original Anthèmes also provided a useful model.14
Although my segmentation largely follows Goldman's, a different strategy is used
for grouping material and labelling paradigms, resulting in part from the signifi-
cance of the electronics in the later work but largely from an alternative analytical
reading. It is to be hoped that these different readings complement each other
and enrich the understanding of the work. The electronics part follows the
divisions indicated by the score markings and almost invariably reinforces
that approach to segmentation, with each category of material within a section
processed differently (and sometimes consistently using the same processes
throughout the work). Indeed, there are places where the electronics clarifies
aspects of the structure that might otherwise not be obvious. This is especially
true of Section 2, which is at first glance a largely undifferentiated succession of
rapid pizzicati.15 Although bars 67 and 71 do stand out - each is a succession of
double-stops, with El>6 always the upper note, and these bars have their own
processing, using frequency shifting - what might be missed is that the remainder
of the section falls into two different categories. Bars 1, 62-66, 68-70 and 72
have one type of processing (harmonisers with delays), whereas the rest of the
movement (bars 2-61 and 73-118) is accompanied by repeated notes from a
sampler. With hindsight it can be seen that the contour of the harmonised
material is more directional and more continuous, and that the dynamics cre-
scendo and diminuendo rather than having terraced markings. But the distinc-
tion is subtle and perhaps ambiguous without the clarification provided by the
electronics. Furthermore, the repeated sampler notes in the main body of the
section (bars 2-61 and 73-118) reflect the internal construction of the violin
part, which is woven out of three different rhythmic variations of the same pitch
material compressed into a single line.
For pragmatic reasons, the main paradigmatic chart of the whole work does
not always strictly follow normal paradigmatic practice. To simplify the main
chart and make it easier to use, immediate uninterrupted recurrences of the same
paradigm are sometimes grouped under a single button. Likewise, within some


203.201.76.181 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 22:43:33 +00:00
364 MICHAEL CLARKE
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sections of the work pairs of paradigms becom

many times in quick succession, forming as i
these situations a single button is sometimes use
spanning both columns, again to help make
show more clearly the larger scale structure.
Aural Reductive Sketches
Reductive sketches play an important role in many analyses of acoustic music:

they show the main structural components of a passage, usually in musical
notation. Such sketches can also be important for the analysis of electroacoustic
music, but once again the problems of notation mean that it is important to try
and find an aural means of presenting them. In the analysis of Mortuos Piango ,
passages such as the transition between Sections 2 and 3 described above were
presented not only visually but also using an aural reductive sketch. Structurally,
the key elements here are the partíais of the voice, which then glissando towards
the frequencies of the bell partíais and then modulate from one focal frequency
to another. As already discussed, this is more than simply a decorative display of
technical virtuosity: the process creates a timbrai modulation, a technique which
underpins the musical structure of the work. It was possible to reconstruct this
transformation using synthesised sine waves and break it down into its com-
ponent stages. The aural sketch highlights the main structural features and is
clearly recognisable aurally as the underlying framework of the passage. Indeed,
it is possible to play the original and the sketch simultaneously and compare
them. In addition to the audio, live numerical data (frequencies and amplitudes)
are presented on the screen as the sketch is played. What might be a dry list of
data having little obvious musical significance is actually heard, allowing trans-
formational processes to be examined and experienced using the interactive
aural approach. The aural reductive sketch is accompanied in the text by a visual
representation (part of which is presented here as Ex. 4) and by a detailed
explanation of timbrai modulation and its implications for the musical structure
of the work.
For Wind Chimes , different types of reductive sketches are used. It is some-
times helpful to summarise the shape of a passage by juxtaposing particular
events to show how the spectromorphology changes over time. Despite the
importance of spectromorphology for this work, harmonic fields and focal
pitches also play significant role. It is useful to summarise these either by using
extracts from the work itself or by synthesising harmonic sketches. Since the
pitches concerned often do not fit the tempered scale, the use of audio in
addition to traditional descriptions of pitch or frequency is especially helpful. At
one point the analytical commentary suggests that a section (Section 6) is
structurally an interpolation within a larger process. The software makes it
possible for the reader to reconstruct the passage in several alternative ways,
omitting the interpolation, and to consider the merits of my interpretation. Thus


203.201.76.181 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 22:43:33 +00:00
366 MICHAEL CLARKE
the software becomes more than sim

also provides the reader with tools al
and assess the validity of the analyt
Interactive Aural Exercises
Analysis of a tonal work takes place against a widely understood background of

tonal theory and practice. This common knowledge facilitates understanding of
the significance of specific features of a particular work within a larger context.
The options facing a composer working in a particular style will be generally
understood; the significance of the actual choices made, and of occasions where
the composer has gone beyond normal practice, will be recognised. In electroa-
coustic music a common technique is much less firmly established. Different
composers take different approaches, and sometimes a particular technique is
devised especially for a composition and may not enter into universal usage. Part
of the analytical task is therefore to provide a context: to introduce the reader
to the techniques used and demonstrate their potential in general as well as
their use in the work in question. In this way the reader can develop a deeper
understanding of the choices facing the composer and the significance of the
decisions taken in creating the work. There is certainly a danger that technologi-
cal issues could distract from musical concerns, something which Smalley, for
one, rightly warns against (1997, pp. 108-9). But what is being considered here
is technique that, although it involves working with technology, has significance
for the way in which the music is shaped. For composers, musicologists or
students wanting to deepen their understanding of how a piece works, such
knowledge is invaluable. Appropriately presented, such information may even be
of use for general listeners wishing to deepen their experience of such repertoire.
Electroacoustic music often struggles to find an audience beyond its own circle.
Helping listeners develop a greater understanding of how the sounds have been
shaped and transformed by playing with them and thus seeing how they are
interrelated may be one way of partially remedying this situation. The best way to
develop such an understanding, whether the reader is a professional composer,
academic or student, is to play with the techniques and learn interactively what
the aural possibilities are. The interactive exercises aim to provide an opportunity
for this to happen in a context that does not demand great technical skill.
In the analysis of Mortuos Piango , a series of interactive exercises provides just
such an opportunity. Some exercises enable the reader to explore the bell timbre
that is so central to both the sound and the structure of the work: to filter out the
component partíais that make up the bell, to re-synthesise the bell from data
obtained through analysis and to transform this re-synthesis by reversing it or
inverting the amplitude data. All of these are techniques used by Harvey in
creating the work. Other exercises enable the reader to explore structural devices
used in the work, for example the sophisticated system of timbrai modulation
already discussed (Ex. 9). The reader not only can recreate some of the passages


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368 MICHAEL CLARKE
from the work but, in one exerci

transformations based on the same
by the composer (Music V and Ch
techniques used were standard and
Producing interactive exercises that
therefore an impossible task. (And w
results of the manipulations instant
wait hours for the results of the co
A somewhat similar situation exists
techniques used are published in a
Gerzso (Universal Edition; plate no
terms, allowing their re-creation w
course especially important for a
Chimes , both of which are pre-reco
generations). The interactive exercis
the techniques used in stages. Ex.
interactive exercises, in which th
modulation by using segments from
settings to discover more about the
context. They provide the reader
underlying processing techniques in
combination of techniques used for
the work. It is furthermore possi
layers of processing found in the wo
of these exercises, which allows the
samples and processing parameters u
work. Although in the case of Anthè
ing can often be presented using
version of the score such notation
exercises are important in giving
understanding of how different pro
at any one time and the musical sig
The electronic processing of the vi
a decoration on the surface of the m
the harmonic and motivic fabric
clarifying the structure. For examp
an electronic version of Boulez's m
by copying it repeatedly (in pitch a
another motive (or multiplying it by
in works without electronics whic
means (e.g. Notations). In other pa
fields or focal pitches and provides
' cases might not otherwise be read
understanding of the workings of a
© 2012 The Author. Music Analysis , 3 1/iii (20 1 2)


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370 MICHAEL CLARKE
Ex. 1 1 Boulez, Anthèmes 2: Screensh
notch frequency of a comb filter) t

be lost. Developing a deeper knowle
important for a full understanding
The situation with Wind Chimes is different for a number of reasons. Most
important, it is more difficult to recreate the exact sounds and techniques used
since most of the source sounds no longer exist and the software is obsolete.17
Nonetheless, the interactive exercises do allow the reader to explore the way in
which the sounds were developed. A few of the remaining source sounds and
sub-mixes, kindly made available by the composer, allow the reader to trace the
evolution of a complex texture from basic materials. This is particularly interest-
ing, as it demonstrates how a wide range of disparate sounds (from single short
events to long textural passages) is in fact derived from a single source. Once this
genealogical relationship is experienced, the listener is likely to begin to hear new
relationships within the work and to see the musical structure in a different light.
Ex. 12 shows part of the software that presents this aural genealogy.


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372 MICHAEL CLARKE
Just as studying harmony and cou

for the creation and reception of
exercises can enhance electroacoustic
alternative options, experienced aur
is a significant part of the learning
terpoint, so it is with the interactive
is vital.
Interactive Sonograms
For the analysis of Wind Chimes , i

reader a way of exploring the sou
aural equivalent of a microscope.
nature of the work and the importa
of the sounds. Also, because of the d
materials precisely (described abov
with a means of getting inside the
work. To achieve this, the Sound
that allows the reader to listen to
pick out particular frequency rang
on the sonogram, but rather than
ciated from sound, it is an intera
Explorer, the reader can instantly h
screen. Some limitations remain (h
resolution, as discussed earlier), b
back to the original sound, this so
inside a work.19
The Sound Explorer displays a sono
the reader a range of options:
1 . It is possible to select a portion

viewing the sonogram.
2. It is possible to play a work at d
or substantially altering the sou
complex passage at slow speed so a
a texture is constructed, or to lis
a particular sound in slow motio
detail.
3. A 'scrub' mode is available so that the reader can move a cursor backwards
and forwards through a passage to study it in detail.
4. The cursor (in either 'play' or 'scrub' mode) can either play the whole
frequency raiige or be limited to a defined range enabling examination of
different parts of the spectrum by moving the mouse 'vertically' (along the
y-axis).


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5. Pointing the mouse at the sonogram displ

amplitude and time at that particular point. I
data re-synthesised as a sine wave. This is not
a reconstruction of what the analysis has reve
and point in time in terms of frequency and a
generated can be helpful in isolating and aura
component as displayed in the sonogram an
the overall sound of the passage. (This tool
AudioSculpt.)
6. In later versions of the Sound Explorer, it wi
or polygons on the sonogram and hear just
Shapes drawn in this way may then be selected
heard separately from the rest of the texture
shapes may be stored and either retrieved
(for example as part of an analytical chart).
The last point illustrates the potential links bet

the three-dimensional paradigmatic chart describ
sonogram will offer an integrated tool for analyst
aural paradigmatic charts, providing a way of se
time and frequency, for use in such charts. E
software and shows a number of the Sound Ex
include the band-limited cursor (the vertical line
sonogram) for playing or scrubbing the sound
above) and the possibility of selecting a porti
dragging across the summary waveform at the t
above).
The Sound Explorer utilises recent technical possibilities (including the Jitter
component of the Max/MSP programming language) and indeed can at times
stretch older hardware to the limits (especially if one is trying to work with a full
fifteen-minute piece). Although it is used in the analysis of Wind Chimes , its full
potential is still to be developed, and it is the subject of continuing research.
The three works studied each presented different challenges to the analyst and
helped develop different aspects of interactive aural analysis. Analysing Mortuos
Piango involved investigating and presenting the detailed manipulation of precise
spectral components and new techniques for metamorphosing between timbres
and for structuring harmonic movement. Much of what was structurally signifi-
cant here lay at a level below that of what has traditionally been considered the
fundamental building block of music: the note. In Wind Chimes , the internal
nature of sounds features in a different way, and spectromorphology is used as an
important means of shaping the work, together with the subtle use of harmonic
fields. Anthèmes 2 combines traditionally notated acoustic music with live trans-
formation of these sounds by computer, and one of the challenges was to
Music Analysis, 31/iii (2012) © 2012 The Author.

Music Analysis © 2012 Blackwell Publish

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374 MICHAEL CLARKE
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demonstrate how these apparently very differen

grated in a single musical structure. Tradition
reductive sketches and paradigmatic charts, w
repertoire and also to the context of analyses pr
through software.
In each case, the principal goal was to find an a
ing and presenting the analysis of a work that e
ways that could relate the technical and the anal
limitations of using visual and verbal means a
structures made this all the more significant. In
develop a hybrid approach (aural as well as ver
more readily reflect the essentially transitory
medium alongside the analytical discourse. Sof
presentation of the analytical findings but al
conducting the analytical exploration itself, as w
for the reader to engage with the music and the
might otherwise be the case. In providing means
techniques of electroacoustic music aurally and
analysis therefore enables analysts and readers t
which cannot easily be reduced to the printed pa
fit within the boundaries of traditional notation and in which the transient and
the temporal take precedence over discrete objects spatially distributed. In this
approach analytical propositions can be directly related to interactive engage-
ment with sound.
The three analyses are all presented as a written text accompanied by software
(Clarke 2006, 2010 and forthcoming), and it is intended that the software be
easy to use, without the need for any particular technical expertise. Creating a
new analysis along these lines, however, does require programming skills
in Max/MSP. This is perhaps inevitable. If part of the analysis involves, for
example, recreating the techniques used in the production of the work, technical
knowledge will of course be needed to program this. Other aspects can be
simplified, and it is intended that future versions of the Sound Explorer will
facilitate the creation of segments (in time and frequency) and their use in charts.
It is also intended to make the source code and tools developed in doing these
analyses freely available to encourage their wider use. There is always a trade-off,
however, between ease of use on the one hand and flexibility and sophistication
on the other. Since the Max/MSP programming language is now so widely
taught and used in the international electroacoustic community, it is probably
reasonable to expect many of those who might undertake such analyses to have
the necessary skills. Nonetheless it would be unfortunate to limit the analysis of
this repertoire to electroacoustic specialists or to restrict the interactive aural
approach to the electroacoustic repertoire.20
The three analyses discussed here are only the first stages in what will hope-
fully be the sustained development of this approach. It is intended that there be
Music Analysis , 3 1 /iii (2012) ©2012 The Author.


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376 MICHAEL CLARKE
further expansion of the repertoire

music) and more refinement both te
interactive aural analysis approach c
work will inevitably lead to exten
perhaps particularly appropriate in s
where particular emphasis on the au
no doubt, new technological advan
composers creating new works will
NOTES
1 . This research was funded in part by a grant from the Arts and
Research Council of Great Britain in 2009.
2. Traditional notation indicates timbre in terms of orchestration and playing

technique but does not represent the detailed internal spectral shape of
sounds or the evolution of the timbrai structure over time, matters which
are so important for much electroacoustic music.
3. Both versions are published by Universal Edition, Vienna. The plate

numbers are UE 114246 for the score and UE 13678 for the realisation
score.
4. Although the text of the analysis is available, for copyrigh

interactive score is not at present publicly available.
5. See below. For technical reasons, it is impossible to maximis

and the time resolution of sonograms simultaneously. O
improved at the expense of the other, so a compromise is a
6. The algebraic notation has been added since the publicati

(Clarke 2006).
7. See http://forumnet.ircam.fr/69 1 .html?L=l .
8 . See http ://www. ina-entreprise . com/entreprise/activites/r

musicales/acousmographe.html.
9 . See http://logiciels.pierrecouprie.fr.
10. See http://www2.hud.ac.uk/mhm/mmt/music-research/iaa
1 1 . An updated version of the software for current operatin

able at http://www.hud.ac.uk/mh/music/sybil/modules.htm
12. Occasionally this does not turn out to be the case. Ther
mercially released recordings of Smalley's Wind Chimes
2004), all with slightly different timings. The two late
performed at a fractionally slower speed than the first.


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initial start time of the 2004 recording is diff

and, of most musical significance, all have dif
pause between the first and second events i
attacks in 1990, 8.39" in 1992 and 11.13" in
a particular version is played it is of course th
an algorithm in the software to convert all the
the different versions (another reason for usin
data!).
13. A transcription of part of an interview the composer gave on the occasion

of the French premiere of Anthèmes 2 can be found as an appendix to
Goldman's thesis (Goldman 2001). In a slightly different version it can be
found in Nattiez, Boulez, Bonnefoy, Bernier, Conquer and Goldman
(2009).
14. A much shorter version of this analysis can be found in Goldman (201 1).
This volume also contains an English version of Goldman's account of the
relationship between Anthèmes 1 anà Anthèmes 2 which previously appeared
in French in Nattiez, Boulez, Bonnefoy, Bernier, Conquer and Goldman
(2009).
15. I number sections for both versions of the work following the numbering
given in the score of Anthèmes 2. Goldman, in writing on Anthèmes (in
which sections are not numbered in the score) probably before the later
version of the work appeared, uses a different numbering.
16. There are, however, a number of errors in the musical notation of the
processes, and the MIDI data usually supplied alongside the notation are a
more reliable guide.
17. A limited version of the software Smalley used in studio 123 at GRM
does exist for Mac, but it is not exactly the same. Although the software
used in the Harvey (Music V) has also long since been superseded,
the techniques used in that work are standard and clearly documented, and
so they are easily reconstructed using contemporary software such as
Max/MSP.
18. The Sound Explorer is in part developed from ideas used by Charles
(2008) in a rather different context with help from Sam Freeman at
Huddersfield.
19. Software for creating and working with sonograms exists, as already
described, in packages such as IRCAM's AudioSculpt or GRM's Acous-
mographe. The Sound Explorer does not duplicate all aspects of such
programs but incorporates features relevant to the analytical context. There
were several reasons for developing new software for use in interactive aural
analysis. Most of all, it was important to be able to facilitate integration of
Music Analysis, 31/iii (2012) © 2012 The Author.

Music Analysis © 2012 Blackwell Publish

203.201.76.181 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 22:43:33 +00:00
378 MICHAEL CLARKE
the sonogram with the rest of the

tant to build it in Max/MSP and
information between the sonog
program. This would not have b
sonogram software packages. Furt
and programming mean that it
sonogram data for a whole piece
the work possible. Finally, certain
context of interactive aural analy
packages.
20. As one step towards broadening the scope, the author has worked with
Amanda Bayley in using somewhat similar software techniques for present-
ing her ethnographic study of Michael Finnissy's Second String Quartet
(Bayley and Clarke 2009).
REFERENCES
Barrière, Françoise and Bennett, Gerald (eds), 1997: Analyse en Musique

Electroacoustiquel Analysis in Electroacoustic Music (Bourges: Mnémosyne).
Bayley, Amanda and Clarke, Michael, 2009: 'Analytical Representations of
Creative Processes in Michael Finnissy's Second String Quartet', Journal of
Interdisciplinary Music Studies , 3/i-ii.
Camilleri, Lelio and Smalley, Denis (eds), 1998: 'Analysis of Electroacoustic
Music ' Journal of New Music Research , 27/i-ii.
Charles, Jean-François, 2008: 'A Tutorial on Spectral Sound Processing Using
Max/MSP and Jitter', Computer Music Journal, 32/iii, pp. 87-102.
Clarke, Michael, 2005: 'An Interactive Aural Approach to the Analysis of
Computer Music', in Proceedings of the 2005 International Computer Music
Conference (San Francisco, CA: ICMA), pp. 85-92.
Analysis', in Mary Simoni (ed.), Analytical Met

(London: Taylor and Francis), pp. 111-43. (Th
ware to accompany this analysis can be found
music/sybil/modules.htm.) .
(ed.) Denis Smalley: Polychrome Portraits

(Associated software can be found at ww
smalley/clarke).
IRCAM). forumnet.ircam.fr (text and softw

Donin, Nicolas and Goldman, Jonathan, 2008:
media Context: the Case of Paradigmatic An
14/iv.


203.201.76.181 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 22:43:33 +00:00
Goldman, Jonathan, 2001: 'Understanding Pie

'Creating a Labyrinth out of Another Labyri
Montréal.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Hirst, David, 2008: A Cognitive Framework for
(Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag Dr Müller).
Landy, Leigh, 1991: What's the Matter with
(Chur: Harwood Academic).
Licata, Thomas (ed.), 2002: Electroacoustic Music: Analytical Perspectives
(Westport, CT: Greenwood Press).
Nattiez, Jean-Jacques; Boulez, Pierre; Bonnefoy, Yves; Bernier, Carol; Conquer,
Jeanne-Marie and Goldman, Jonathan, 2009: Quêtes d'absolus (Montréal:
Simon Blais).
Roy, Stéphane, 1996: 'Form and Referential Citation in a Work by Francis
Dhomonť, Organised Sound , 1/i, pp. 29-41.
(Paris: L'Harmattan).
Simoni, Mary (ed.), 2006: Analytical Methods of Electroacoustic Music (London:
Taylor and Francis).
Smalley, Denis, 1986: 'Spectro-Morphology and Structuring Processes', in
Simon Emmerson (ed.), The Language of Electroacoustic Music (London:
Macmillan), pp. 61-93.
2/ii, pp. 107-26.

Wishart, Trevor, 1985: On Sonic Art (York: Ima
MUSICAL WORKS
Boulez, Pierre, 1992: Anthèmes (Vienna: Universal Edition; plate no. :
Harvey, Jonathan, 1980: Mortuos Piango

ECD88261 (1985); Erato 2292-45409-2; Sargasso SCD 28029 (1999);
Unknown Public UPCD01; and Wergo WER2025-2 (1990).
Smalley, Denis, 1987: Wind Chimes. On Impacts intérieurs (2004) (Montreal:
empreintes DIGITALes, IMED 0409, re-mastered edition of IMED 9209
(1992); first issued on: Computer Music Currents (1990). Mainz: Wergo
(WER2025-2)).
NOTE ON CONTRIBUTOR
Michael Clarke is Professor of Music and Director of Research for the School
of Music, Humanities and Media at the University of Huddersfield. He has won


203.201.76.181 on Sun, 24 Mar 2024 22:43:33 +00:00
380 MICHAEL CLARKE
a number of international awards f

has led projects that have won Euro
ABSTRACT
Electroacoustic music presents particular challenges to the ana

music is not notated, and where notation is used it may well take a
and serve a different purpose to that of acoustic music. Furtherm
employed may not be traditionally musical, and pitch and rhythm
most significant parameters in the musical argument. The concep
the basic building block of a work may not be appropriate, s
structural activity may take place at a lower level or because seam
transformations may be used. Transcribing such music can also p
atic, whether using traditional Western musical notations or other
where might the analytical process begin, and how can its outcom
nicated? This article examines these issues and presents a new int
approach, in which software is used to engage directly with the
allow the reader to interact with the musical materials and the methods used to
create them. The development of this approach is discussed in relation to three
analyses of contrasting works by Jonathan Harvey, Denis Smalley and Pierre
Boulez.


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CLARKE AnalysingElectroacousticMusic 2012

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Analysing Electroacoustic Music: an Interactive Aural Approach

Author(s): MICHAEL CLARKE

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Analysing Electro acoustic Music: an Interactive

I. The Nature of Electroacoustic Music

Beyond a Striated Two-Dimensional Lattice

There are, of course, different styles and genres of electroacoustic mu

Music Analysis , 3 1 /iii (20 12) 347

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that they are employed make transcr

© 20 1 2 The Author. Music Analysis, 31/iii (20 1 2)

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One obvious solution, and one attempted by m

Music Analysis , 3 1 /iii (2012) © 20 1 2 The Author.

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Ex. 1 Jonathan Harvey, Mortuos Piango: t

subtle pitch inflections). What is being transformed and musically sculpted is

Continuous Transformational Processes

The example from Mortuos Piango illustrates the importance of transformational

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vocal qualities. Metamorphoses such as these m

II. Representing Electroacoustic Music

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Ex. 2 Francis Dhomont, Points de fui

passages on a CD arises. Helpfully, David Hirst, in his analysis (2008) of

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Ex. 3 Harvey, Mortuos Piango : sonograms

not group data perceptually. It is the totality o

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Ex. 4 Harvey, Mortuos Piango : algebr

is in fact an elegant and carefully

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often too much is expected of them, and especiall

III. An Interactive Aural Approach

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The first interactive aural analysis,

At its most basic, interactive aural a

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sound directly from a CD (inserted into the CD dr

Segmentation and Aural Paradigmatic Charts

A natural development from aural referencing is t

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play an important and distinctive r

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Ex. 6 Denis Smalley, Wind Chimes : S

boundaries. For example, in a passag

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situations may stretch segmentation strategies and

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