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Mimetic Instrumental Resynthesis*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2015

James O’Callaghan
James O’Callaghan*
Affiliation:
480 rue Boucher, appt. 15, Montréal, QC, H2J 1B9, Canada
*
*Email: jamesocallaghan3@gmail.com
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Abstract

This article provides a brief survey of composition in which field recordings or other referential sounds are transcribed for acoustic instruments. Through a discussion of how electroacoustic music and scholarship have conceptualised the notion of mimesis, and how various forms of contemporary acoustic music have adopted electroacoustic techniques, it identifies a recent musical practice in which these concerns are brought together. The article proposes the term mimetic instrumental resynthesis as a way of describing the common threads behind works that employ electronic-assisted or computer-assisted techniques towards instrumental imitations of environmental and extra-musical sounds. The article also highlights some of the conceptual and aesthetic questions emerging from such a practice, including the idea of transformation, issues of referentiality, listening, the influence of different technologies and their aesthetic implications, and the tension between abstract and concrete conceptions of the works discussed. Finally, the article raises concerns surrounding the language of discussing what is necessarily an interdisciplinary venture.

Type
Articles
Information
Organised Sound , Volume 20 , Special Issue 2: Sound Art and Music, Historical Continuum and Mimetic Fissures , August 2015 , pp. 231 - 240
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2015 

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Footnotes

*This article expands on research presented at the Electroacoustic Music Studies Conference (EMS2012) in Stockholm (O’Callaghan 2012), and developed as part of the author’s Master’s thesis at McGill University (O’Callaghan 2014). The research is generously supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

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