Methodologies of musical analysis based on psychoacoustics, neuroscience and cognitive sciences

Abstract

In our PhD thesis, we presented the techno-scientific context that enabled the emergence of the compositional model that lies at the basis of spectral music; at a crossroads between disciplines as diverse as physics, psychoacoustics, electronics, computer sciences and philosophy.This work led to the conclusion that the recent discoveries regarding sound structure and perception paved the way for a new paradigm in musical cognition. Its understanding supposes the existence of an integrated space-time continuum within the formal structure of the work which draws on an interdependency between elements rather than on the permutation of separable parameters. This conclusion led us to the formulation of an analytical framework tailored to the specificities of this new paradigm.The present project proposes to prolong these results through the theoretical description, discussion and implementation of a computational analytical tool that allows for the integration of temporal aspects into the fabric of music analysis, just like spectral music did in the field of musical composition.Furthermore, it will be conceived so as to serve, beyond its core analytical purposes, as the basis for creative exploration or, in other words, as a tool for computer-assisted composition. (AU)