A Slight Delay: Agency and Improvisation in the Ambient Sound World Lpp-t7Í · Daniel Siepmann Rarely in the history of music has the musician found himself in a more radical position, faced with as unaccustomed a task as the creation of the very sound itself.1 - Pierre Boulez It might as well be a hamburger.2 - Brian Eno, referring to his Yamaha DX7 Synthesizer I intend το explore the use of the delay line technique in the creation of ambient music by British Composer Brian Eno and others. This composition strategy represents a pivotal moment in an evolving aes thetic that exudes atmosphere and coloration rather than a progressive 174 Perspectives of New Music melody, harmony, or rhythm in music. Originally built as a collection of several tape recorders looped together with a single sequential signal path, this sound duplication system has undergone (and continues to undergo) technological and artistic variation that mirrors a significant paradigm shift in the musical thought of the past five decades. I will problematize many of these aspects of thought by posing two primary questions. First, when the composer assumes a significantly more passive role in the unfolding of a musical piece, how should one evaluate this revised position? Instead of the composer as an intentional actor, the delay line systems commit him or her to the role of a creative, yet distant, engineer. The work of composers like Brian Eno, composers who only provide a guiding hand in the actual construction of a piece, fundamentally questions the popular and academic view of the composer as an agent directing musical traffic, controlling all of the minute parts of the musical whole. Second, does the use of the delay line system as a process of musical composition constitute improvisation? The delay line system's repetitive nature allows for the composer to capitalize on the unanticipated musical moments which would otherwise be characterized as "mistakes" in a traditional compositional framework. Using audio manipulation devices in the sequence of the delay line system, the composer is able to alter variables when these mistakes occur; he or she relies on the same unpredictability as a jazz musician making a new musical statement. If the dynamic between the composer and the delay line system does amount to improvisation, what is the nature of this improvisation? Furthermore, how does improvisation help inform our positive account of ambient music and the way we experience it? Ambient Culture and Design Ambient music is a genre of music that focuses on coloring the listener's sonic environment while largely disregarding other functional musical traits such as melodicism, harmonic progression, or rhythmic variation. While these qualities are certainly recognizable in the musical texture, they are all yoked towards advancing an unobtrusive, back ground music—a music that isn't meant to be listened to directly. However, this definition of ambient music is problematic because the idea of "ambience in music" escapes any normal genre boundaries. We as listeners are consistently capable of finding ambience in nearly all Agency and Improvisation in the Ambient Sound World music, based on the level of attention or active listening with which we engage a musical piece. If we put on a record and then proceed to read or engage in other distracting activities, any music may easily be described as ambient, filling the space with sound that we seem to appreciate and enjoy, yet to which we are not quite listening. Thus, the idea of ambient music not only relies on the internal qualities of the music but also the utility that the music holds for the listener. In fact, the concept of musical ambience is so expansive that it stretches the boundaries of what we may commonly call music. Sounds permeating through nature and the air frequently induce feelings of a surrounding aural environment, a kaleidoscopic mixture of birdsongs, insect calls, and the wind through the leaves and brush. Similarly, sitting in one's house in a quiet setting, sound continues to swirl around us, sounds that are rarely considered and usually in the background of conversa tion or human activity: the hum of the refrigerator, the rustle of the blinds, chimes outside on the porch, a siren in...
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Open Access
Jan 11, 2023
Sri Agustina Meliala + 2
