This article describes a project intended to promote access to electroacoustic music for children and teenagers aged 6 to 15 years in a socially and educationally disadvantaged rural community in Michoacán, Mexico. It explores an educational model of teaching, learning and creation of electroacoustic music through the use of music technology and pedagogy based on constructivism and Paulo Freire’s ideas on education as a practice of freedom. It provides a pedagogical reflection on the processes of learning and appreciation of this new music. The project includes the use of an interactive music system – implemented in MaxMSP using a mobile phone OSC app to control space and its interaction with timbre, pitch and duration – as an aid in the classroom and its implementation in an educational programme with a social impact. The research covered in this article could be taken into account to deliver new music education in rural communities with similar socioeconomic circumstances.

This article presents results of a study on ‘Net music’ that was initiated in 1996 and presented in 2002 as a doctoral dissertation at Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg in Germany (Föllmer 2005). Since no scholarship encompassing the whole field as defined by the term ‘Net music’ has been published until recently, the study involved the collection and analysis of a broad spectrum of musical projects that employ the Internet in very different ways. Around seventy examples considered to be classifiable as Net music were chosen to represent the scope of different approaches to how electronic networks can be used for making music. The first part of this article describes three outstanding examples of Net music and their interplay with particularly important characteristics of electronic networks. The second part discusses a possible typology of Net music.

Composition and diffusion can be understood as two complementary and related processes: bringing sounds together, and spreading them out again in an organised fashion. In the Western tradition, these two processes are frequently carried out by different people at different times, each drawing on specialised knowledge. The electroacoustic tradition, even if much briefer, offers the possibility of the composer designing and implementing both aspects of the music, and interrelating them in highly specific ways. Computer control offers the greatest precision in dealing with the complexities of these processes, even though, at present, separate programs are usually required.

The introduction of new techniques for audio reproduction such as HRTF-based technology, wave field synthesis and higher-order Ambisonics is accompanied by a paradigm shift from channel-based to object-based transmission and storage of spatial audio. Not only is the separate coding of source signal and source location more efficient considering the number of channels used for reproduction by large loudspeaker arrays, it also opens up new options for a user-controlled interactive sound field design. This article describes the need for a common exchange format for object-based audio scenes, reviews some existing formats with potential to meet some of the requirements and finally introduces a new format called Audio Scene Description Format (ASDF) and presents the SoundScape Renderer, an audio reproduction software which implements a draft version of the ASDF.

This paper presents a three-stage model (analysis, reconstruction and performance) for the conservation of interactive electroacoustic works for which the original technology is now obsolete or otherwise unavailable. The first stage, analysis, is a detailed documentation of the electronic processes and effects required for each work in a format that is independent of any specific device or system. The analysis provides a blueprint for future realisations using available technology. The second stage, reconstruction, provides a working performance resource, as well as a test case for the validity of the analysis. Reconstructed systems are then tested and refined through the third stage, performance. With repeated performances, compositions gain wider exposure and may be evaluated by listeners on their musical merits. To date, the author has analysed, reconstructed and performed several works for clarinet and interactive electronics. Each performance has informed the continued development of the newly reconstructed system, and has in some cases led to corrections to the underlying analysis. As a classically trained clarinettist and computer musician, the author's approach to the conservation of electroacoustic repertoire comes from a desire to find performable works and to keep them viable and accessible for as long as possible. Four works for clarinet and interactive electronics (by Musgrave, Pennycook, Kramer, and Lippe) are presented as test cases for this model.

Composers, musicians and computer scientists have begun to use software-based agents to create music and sound art in both linear and non-linear (non-predetermined form and/or content) idioms, with some robust approaches now drawing on various disciplines. This paper surveys recent work: agent technology is first introduced, a theoretical framework for its use in creating music/sound art works put forward, and an overview of common approaches then given. Identifying areas of neglect in recent research, a possible direction for further work is then briefly explored. Finally, a vision for a new hybrid model that integrates non-linear, generative, conversational and affective perspectives on interactivity is proposed.

This article examines the possibilities afforded by the use of ecological models in electroacoustic compositions within a semiotic framework for composition. The ecological model is defined and distinguished as a signifier which is recognised through its syntax, and is examined in relation to theoretical writings in the field of electroacoustic composition, as well as approaches adapted from ecological psychology. Several approaches to ecological models – most significantly, those explored by Keller and Barrett – are surveyed while focusing on both technical and conceptual approaches. Finally, the author suggests new compositional possibilities and modes of engagement using ecological models, specifically through the lens of a semiotic framework and relating to the hybridisation of signs afforded by manipulation of computer models – illustrated through the author’s recent compositional work.

This article describes several recent projects that together illustrate an evolving practice and a philosophy of ecoacoustic sound art called EcoSono. These projects foreground adventure – the live, in-person engagement with the world. As a technological sound art practice, EcoSono uses technology to link human and environmental expression, in an attempt to define a collaborative and symbiotic relationship between humans and the natural world. At the core of this work are computational and transduction technologies enabling deeper human–environment interaction. This paper describes three projects including the MICE (Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble) World Tour, the EcoSono Institute music/science collaboration adventure, and the Agents Against Agency series in emergent and improvised musical forms. The article also addresses several key values of interactive ecoacoustics. First, it describes the importance of ‘impracticality’ in creating a productive environmentalist art work. The article also makes the case that the purpose of outdoor recording is not the acquisition of material samples, but to hear the world and learn from it.

In 1991 I wrote a short article comparing three ‘live electronic’ ensembles based in the UK and active in the late 1960s and 1970s (one into the 1980s) (Emmerson 1991). It was only in the final stages of preparation of this paper for presentation at the EMS05 conference in Montreal that I realised that the death of Hugh Davies on 1 January 2005 meant that a key member of each of the three ensembles was no longer with us. This article is thus dedicated to Barry Anderson (1935–1987, founder and director of the West Square Electronic Music Ensemble), Tim Souster (1943–1994, co-founder of Intermodulation) and Hugh Davies (1943–2005, founder member of Gentle Fire). The fact that they can no longer describe, elucidate and explain the repertoire that they created is directly pertinent to this paper. While its practitioners must inevitably (though hopefully not so prematurely) move on, as we celebrate Mozart's 250th birthday with performances of the vast majority of his compositions, we must ask ‘in what form live electronic music can live on’

A computational analysis of temporal patterns of acoustic intensity is applied to a series of recorded electroacoustic works in order to discern whether there are recurrent patterns in the intensity rise–fall structure. The works range from 1962 (Xenakis) to 2001 (Normandeau), and include composition and improvisation, large-scale (>25 minutes) and small-scale (<2 minutes) pieces, and acoustic, electronic and manipulated and synthesised sound. Contrary to Huron’s 1991 finding of long and gradual crescendi compared to short and abrupt decrescendi in classical music notation, it is found that in successive rise–fall events the rise phase (crescendo) is commonly shorter than the fall, and has a greater absolute rate of change of intensity than the fall. Correspondingly, crescendi occupy a smaller portion of the piece than decrescendi. When categorised into dynamic steps (such as p, mp, mf etc.), crescendi are usually less numerous than decrescendi. The results are considered from a cognitive point of view, in that this structuring may influence and thus result from listener attention and arousal patterns; and from a creator/performer point of view, in that embodied or virtualised effort may be key to the impact of an electroacoustic piece.

This paper describes a survey of contemporary approaches towards the use of spatial design in electroacoustic music, focusing on the type of spatial systems used by a sample of composers and the way they conceive the use of space in their music. Comparing the results with information gathered from seventeen articles by composers written on the topic in 1997, it is shown that composers nowadays are more used to working with different types of spatialisation systems than before. There is also a considerable increase in the use of surround 5.1 as well as four- and eight-channel systems and a decrease in the use of stereo. The compared results also show that, in general, composers nowadays seem to be less concerned with performance and interpretation issues as well as technical aspects of spatialisation. Further studies could consider a more detailed investigation of how the new spatialisation tools have shaped the aesthetical character of the music composed in recent years.

In this paper I examine metaphors of place and place making, with reference to the phenomenological tradition and in particular Edward S. Casey, in relation both to sound-based music and art concerned with environment, and to listening and environmental sound. I do so in order to consider how aspects of place-making activity might be incorporated in aurally perceived works, and elicited in listeners, so that we might perhaps achieve a greater sense of ‘connectedness’ to sound-based music and art that is itself about – in some way – our connectedness to the environment. Three works, by Feld, Monacchi and López, form the basis for investigation.

The desire to make data accessible through the sense of listening has led to ongoing research in the fields of sonification and auditory display since the early 1990s. Coming from the disciplines of computer sciences and human computer interface (HCI), the conceptualisation of sonification has been mostly driven by application areas and methods. On the other hand, the sonic arts, which have always participated in the auditory display community, have a genuine focus on sound. Despite these close interdisciplinary relationships between communities of sound practitioners, a rich and sound- or listening-centred concept of sonification is still missing for design guidelines. Complementary to the useful organisation by fields of application, a proper conceptual framework for sound needs to be abstracted from applications and also to some degree from tasks, as both are not directly related to sound. As an initial approach to recasting the thinking about sonification, we propose a conceptualisation of sonifications along two poles in which sound serves either a normative or a descriptive purpose. According to these two poles, design guidelines can be developed proper to display purposes and listening modes.

In this paper, I describe the Pavilion: Into the 21st Century project, a multimedia instrument based on the spherical mirror created for the Pepsi Pavilion – a visionary work of art and architecture originally created by E.A.T. (Experiments in Art & Technology) for Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan. The Pavilion is being returned to contemporary artists and audiences in order to extend the experience of the original to the Internet. The project draws from the fundamental notion of interdisciplinary collaboration and social interaction that was integral to the original concept – encouraging a freer, more participatory experience that breaks down the traditional distinction between artist, audience and artwork.

This paper outlines some recent developments in multichannel composition at the Electroacoustic Music Studios, University of Birmingham and its performance wing, BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre). In doing so it attempts to codify and define some emerging aspects of spatialisation practice which are found both within the BEAST community and beyond. The discussion covers software and techniques developed and adapted for use with BEAST, new and pragmatic approaches to composing for large-scale multichannel systems, such as n-channel composition and composing in ‘stems’, and issues arising from a resulting blurring between composition and performance practices.

Emotion is a word not often heard in sonification, though advances in affective computing make the data type imminent. At times the relationship between emotion and sonification has been contentious due to an implied overlap with music. This paper clarifies the relationship, demonstrating how it can be mutually beneficial. After identifying contexts favourable to auditory display of emotion, and the utility of its development to research in musical emotion, the current state of the field is addressed, reiterating the necessary conditions for sound to qualify as a sonification of emotion. With this framework, strategies for display are presented that use acoustic and structural cues designed to target select auditory-cognitive mechanisms of musical emotion. Two sonifications are then described using these strategies to convey arousal and valence though differing in design methodology: one designed ecologically, the other computationally. Each model is sampled at 15-second intervals at 49 evenly distributed points on the AV space, and evaluated using a publically available tool for computational music emotion recognition. The computational design performed 65 times better in this test, but the ecological design is argued to be more useful for emotional communication. Conscious of these limitations, computational design and evaluation is supported for future development.

Among the questions regularly put to me, those that recur most often touch upon three aspects, three things to consider that are, truth to tell, unending within the domain of organised sounds. Those questions that take the lead are usually concerned with space – the representation of space as well as the production of space. Then come those that deal with listening, active or passive. Last are those relating to tools for making and for listening. Together, these approaches run through the stages that are very natural in position problematics: where, when, how, for whom, why? I would like, in formulating these repeated questions once more, to make myself re-orientate them in such a way to show that by bringing to bear forty years of experience, I have tried to reply to them as much through practice as through theory, putting forward the idea of a family of operational concepts linked together through the perceptual radical ‘acous’: acousmatic, acousmonium, acousmographe, acousmathèque.

In this paper I describe a work of mine, Background Noise Study, as a starting point to raise questions of broader relevance for current artistic practices. Issues are presented in terms varying from technical and specific, to more philosophical and general (system-theory, biocybernetics, ecology). Excursions are made into the music-theoretical (understanding of key issues in the sound arts, such as ‘space’, ‘performance’, ‘form’ or ‘timbre’) and the political (politics of sound, biopolitics of performance and listening).

This article explores the relationship and disparities between human and computational creativity by addressing the following questions: How well are computational creativity systems currently performing at creative tasks? Could computers outperform human composers? And, if not, is computational creativity a utopia? Automatic composition systems are examined with respect to Boden’s three criteria of creativity (novelty, surprise and value), as well as their assumptions about the nature of creativity. As an alternative to a competitive relationship between human and computational creativity, the article proposes the concept of a distributed human–computer co-creativity, in which computational creativity extends – rather than replaces – human creativity, by expanding the space of creative possibilities.

Both electroacoustic music and its associated musicology are a half century old. Although the number of relevant technological developments during this time could be said to be extremely high, its music has known relatively few heroes, at least within contemporary art music, and written scholarship demonstrates a bias towards formalism and therefore much less of one towards the contextual, aesthetic, reception, etc. The previous sentence implies an imbalance worthy of addressing. This article is less a survey of what exists in the area of electroacoustic music scholarship than one looking into delineating the area and suggesting where the ‘holes in the market’ might be and how they might be filled. Are the fields of sonic art and its musicology intentionally avoiding coherence? And why do musicologists of the music of notes continue to avoid the musicology of the music of sounds? Finally, triangulation, i.e. the use of feedback and evaluation so rarely applied in electroacoustic music(ologogical) contexts, is promoted as a means to greater cohesion and understanding, avoiding what is called an ‘island mentality’ demonstrated by many individuals working in all areas of the sonic arts.