PSYCHOACOUSTIC PHENOMENA IN MUSICAL COMPOSITION
Some Features of a "Perceptual Geography"
Maryanne Amacher, 1977
"A major part of all musical experiences is the fact that we create "additional tones" in our ears and brain in response to many of the acoustic intervals in the music... Even though the existence of responsive tones are well established in modern psychoacoustics, they continue to be regarded as a subjective aspect of musical composition. Academic music theory and criticism have not yet confronted how "additional tones" can be developed
consciously in the composition of music, i.e., their role in the
technique of musical composition.
The response tones we create as a result of the acoustic space we are in, matter to me as a composer. Tones in 'the room affect our mind and our body. The latter respond by c~eating new tones. What I am calling "perceptual geography" is the interplay, the meeting of these tones, our processing
of the given. I distinguish where the tones originate, in the room, in the ear, in the brain, in order to examine this map and to amplify it musically. I want to listen more carefully, to what are innate and perhaps even distinctly human capabilities. This involves developing a music which more clearly
lets us "hear" some of these responses, lets us "know" that given acoustic intervals are indeed affecting responses in our ears and brain. It is a music which emphatically ~ attention to what is happening to us.
...
I find it useful, when" 1st order superpositions" are stimulated, to think of the listener responding-not to the real world primary sources-but to certain EXTREMELY RESONANT INSTRUMENTS within the anatomical structures of the inner ear. We "hear" tones, other than the given acoustic tones, being created in our ears, as the membrane vibrates in response to the given acoustic tones. The second group of intervals in the study produce sensations of tone and! or pattern modulations which are not present in the cochlear fluids at all. These exist in the brain, originating from the interaction of neural signals, after they have been combined at the medullar or midbrain levels. The processing here is more intricate than the previous resonant responses. When" 2nd order superpositions" are stimulated, we "listen" to what our auditory system--CAPABLE OF DETECTING EXTREMELY SUBTLE CHANGES IN THE FORM OF THE VIBRATION
PATTERN--perceives as it responds to the given acoustic tones. This is a very special. beautiful feature to consider! In effect we "hear" an evolved sensitivity, extracting information on details of the vibration pattern. (Subjective pitch originates here.)
...
An interplay is cultivated between musicians and tone sensations. It is intricate. Frequently-subtle tunings, close interval relationships. Complementary timbres tinge to a greater or lesser degree. The musicians embellish, improvise with human-given tone responses.
Our responses to the basic intervals perhaps are distinctly human ones. They exist in all musical experiences. They are basic, mechanistic in that
they go on without us-whether we
know it or not. In the music I am describing, simple tones now bring attention to
what goes on without us.
We
listen to
it. Musicians weave tones around our response tone as they are being created. Energy is created in the interplay.
It feels
itself. Grows an arm. Starts to learn. Rapport is cultivated.
It gets smarter. A counterpoint exists: music explores what has been supressed, and with its curious changes, strange levels of mood, mind, provokes new responses, our response to
it.
Right now our subtleties barely exist for us-
they go on without us-like
the "additional tones" adjuncts of our actions in the environment. We
do not listen to them. They belong to the "machine" we dare not
acknowledge. That wonderfully complex, gentle, subtle Gorgon, responding
every ·moment, with its intricate abilities-mysterious beyond our
comprehension-we dare not look. The riddle remains. One of human
potential. "What is responding every moment for
us, but we are not allowed to respond to
it?" Image in stone? Man in control?
From
the point of view of biological evolution, von Bekesy compared the
basilar membrane to a piece of skin with an ENORMOUSLY MAGNIFIED
"TOUCH" SENSITIVITY. I take the implication of this analogy very
seriously. To evolve, we will create more consciously with such
extremely sensitive endowments, increasing the subtlety in our
responsive energies. We do not acknowledge our subtleties, much less appreciate them. So much in our envirorunent requires
keeping them on
but says pretend it's not responding, don't let outside or inside touch
you. (Music played at such intense levels, although primitive,
represents a need to at least feel some of
this capability in action.) To evolve with our sensitivities, we must learn to
feel with them,
in intricate subtle situations. The interplay between musicians and
response tones with their corresponding shaping features is intended to
stimulate rapport between dormant energies. I think we can approach some
of these experiences, gently through music."
Live Toronto 1981 room recording:
https://soundcloud.com/artpractical/maryanne-amacher-clip-for
You can help "preserve and make Maryanne's research, ideas and questions widely
accessible to the world creative community in a living and dynamic way," via my own fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas:
https://www.fracturedatlas.org/s/campaign/558.
I'm
reading some of my own thoughts, in my own language, here.
Many thanks to
Jon Leidecker for such a quality reference. And massive expansion of mindspace.
