The french composer Pierre Schafer, a pioneer of experimental music, was one of the first to recognise the limits of traditionally recorded music and theory. His experiments with recording equipment, but most notably tape manipulation, are the main ways in which he explored these limitations, pushing past boundaries of what was widely accepted in music, ushering in a new age of musical experimentation
Using tape recorders in a creative way, Schafer set about changing the nature of recorded sound that society had grown familiar with. Conventional techniques of music production used on the machines at his disposal, such as the Shellac record recorder, mixing desk and microphones didn’t allow for enough alteration of the tonal characteristics of the sounds he was using to satiate his experimental aesthetic. As a result he started to study the characteristics of instruments on a micro level, in order to alter them in a more complex fashion. His careful analysis of these characteristics, such as attack, timbre, decay and speed, among others, and the way in which they were applied in mainstream music allowed him to come up with ways to change the attributes of sound entirely. Using principles of loop manipulation, Schaeffer composed a piece between 1949 to 1950 called Symphonie Pour Un Homme Seul that was made up of music using turntables and mixers that allowed him to create a symphony of noises, incorporating these techniques of sound manipulation, such as reversing a sound, sustained resonance and removing the attack of a sound.
The introduction of the tape recorder in 1951 facilitated manipulation of sound via speed variation and looping in a much more intuitive way. However it was the possibility of tape splicing, whereby bits of tape could be cut up and rearranged that fuelled a lot of Schaeffer’s future work, as well as the advancement of music production in general.
These works with tape manipulation and application of audio effects formed the basis of Musique Concrete, ‘a type of musical composition that utilises recorded sounds as raw material‘ resulting in montages mainly using, but not limited to, the human voice, natural environment, musical instruments and synthesizers without the restrictions of music theory pertaining to melody, harmony, rhythm, etc. This form of acousmatic music, where the sound is manipulated enough so that the audience has little clues as to it source became fundamental in the development of the musical genres that followed.
Whilst a lot of his early works strike me as a concoction of sounds arranged in a very chaotic way with, what I deem to be, a lack of musical intent, upon research I now feel as if the experimental intention behind these works are more important than the resulting non-music, as it forces the audience to see sound from a new perspective. If it wasn’t for Schaeffer, much of the presupposed meaningless of his musical arrangements may never have merged with traditional music to create the vast array of genres we have today. In a very direct sense, one such genre is that of Plunderphonics: ‘a highly controversial genre of electronic music that involves unashamedly sampling other people’s music or media to create new tracks.‘
I feel that Musique concrete’s inherent opposition to traditional forms of music also encourages creators to engage more inquisitively with the environment they find themselves in and the tools at their disposal, to discover alternate ways of producing sound and motivating us to understand our tools in a greater way. It teaches an important lesson in exercising more wariness with the associations to music that we have been conditioned to relate to.
References
Palombini, Carlos. (2002). Musique Concrète Revisited.
“Acousmatic Sound.” Wikipedia, 3 Dec. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acousmatic_sound. Accessed 15 Aug. 2021.
Henshall, Marc. “The History of Musique Concrète.” Sound Matters, 30 Oct. 2011, www.yoursoundmatters.com/musiqueconcrete1/.
“Musique Concrete | Music 101.” Courses.lumenlearning.com, courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-musicapp-medieval-modern/chapter/musique-concrete/.
“Symphonie Pour Un Homme Seul.” Wikipedia, 9 Feb. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphonie_pour_un_homme_seul. Accessed 15 Aug. 2021.
Wikipedia Contributors. “Musique Concrète.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Nov. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musique_concr%C3%A8te.