PRESENTATION

Presence and implication in current society
State of the question

• The preservation and restoration of the heritage
• Pedagogy and analysis
• Available technologies
• Interpretation and perception
• Sociology and aesthetics

Music technology experienced one of its most notable changes in the 20th century: from the era of mechanics and sound production through the human body it evolved, firstly, towards electronic sound production and later, towards digital technology. The first stage consisted of the invention of musical instruments using the possibilities of electricity and electronics (Theremin, Ondes Martenot, etc.) and later the use of recording and reproduction methods for manipulating sound and organising it in music that at first dispensed with the instrumental presence. From this came the different currents that marked musical thought as from the late 1940s: Concrete Music, Electronic Music, Tape Music, Electro-acoustic music, Live-Electronics, Acousmatic Music, Digital Music …

The second stage began with the possibility of producing digital sound, a process that began in the late 1950s. This stage made what had previously been a laborious task of controlling the performance of frequently unstable machines that much easier, resulting in a more precise control of the parameters that make up the sound and the possibility of repeating the actions. We had to wait for the technology to develop so as to be able to work on the sound in all its complexity before digital technology would replace its predecessor, analogue technology: in the early years we had to wait several days to obtain the sound, but gradually we went from Recorded time (as it was called) to Real time, in which the composer’s aims were immediately audible.

In the long journey from the early sounds until today, the computer has gone from being a tool difficult to control and confined to high technology centres to being an everyday, accessible tool, adapted to all spheres of human activity and easy to use. This evolution, however, brought significant and in some cases irreversible changes in the way we think and work in our society: pedagogy, the role of music in science, music in practice, composition and aesthetic concepts have all experienced changes and developments that enable us to identify a clear turning point. Perhaps the most significant fact is that, for the people who want to, it has never been easier to be able to invent, create and compose music, or simply have fun with sound.

This first congress provides us with not only a general introduction to the technological problems in the musical field, but also the analysis and understanding of the impact that technology has had and is having on music today in all spheres of musical activity. It will also give us the chance to get a glimpse of future perspectives and of the possible challenges and needs that we will have to face.

The preservation and restoration of the heritage

Music is a richness that is valued with time, so it is therefore necessary to preserve it, study it and restore it. Digital technologies have simplified and aided in the preservation, cataloguing and restoration of this accumulated richness. However, we run the great risk of losing the greater part of this rich heritage that took shape as from the 1940s. What are these risks? The selfsame fragility of the means by which the information is preserved, the unstable technologies, the lack of preservation centres and the difficulty in defining what should be preserved. Which should be preserved: the recorded concert or the computer program that enabled the final result to be obtained?

Music forms a unique patrimonial, cultural and educational asset: we need to ensure that it becomes part of the process of the development of society. There are initiatives, foreshadowing of centres and above all musicological questioning, about which it is necessary to both preserve and define the essential setting so that a modern piece of work, created with innovative technology, can be preserved and restored in the future. Herein lie two problems: how to ensure the long-term preservation of almost 30,000 works composed since the 1940s and how, within the framework of constantly evolving technology, to integrate the problem of preservation of the works as a full part of its production process. The ideal situation would be for the piece of work, on being created, to produce its own memory, preserve the traces of its evolution, enabling at the same time the preservation of the development of the composer’s ideas.

What is at stake today is our memory, our comprehension of the past to be able to project ourselves into the future, as well as the possibility of being able to interpret and rediscover essential works for understanding our current musical world. Alongside effective actions to ensure what already exists is saved, it is necessary to undertake actions that enable preservation to be something simple that does not interfere with the creative process but which ensures perpetuity.

Pedagogy and analysis

Analysing and transmitting is the key to understanding and the development of pleasure in music. Analysis enables the study of the ideas and structures of music; pedagogy is the essential element for sharing and developing auditory skills and the discovery of new musical worlds. Both aspects are traditionally structured around the representative element of the music, the score. Musical practice, within the school setting, is mainly instrumental and directed at developing the relationship between writing and playing. The use of new technologies in music has had two major consequences: the growing separation between the music that is heard and the music that is studied, as well as the fact that musical practice using digital technology has spread greatly among young people, something that, given that practice is rudimentarily linked to creation, requires training related to their concerns.

This has resulted in a big question: how can we analyse and teach when the score disappears or when it is replaced by other means of representation? The roots of musicological analysis are eroded, given that the parameters of the object to be analysed are not the same and the existing terminology and concepts cannot be easily applied. Inversely, the object of teaching is much wider and teachers need new educational concepts and analytical tools.

Music teaching becomes more interesting for educationalists and students when technology is integrated into it. The contemporariness of the object studied renews the position of music teaching, which has to seek out complex compromises between music teaching of the past and the modernity of musical practice. A similar situation arises in the field of musical analysis, in which the study of contemporary works and tendencies enables a greater understanding of the musical phenomenon and greater integration into musical practice.

Available technologies

Technology is the central axis of the massive evolution of music over the last sixty years. Technology in itself does not cause evolution, but rather musicians include it in their work and propose new uses and functions. In many cases, during the first decades, it was the musicians who proposed new technological developments and it was they themselves who produced them (synthesizers, computer programs, dedicated processors). Technological innovation took place in the 1980s, when digital technology began to be within everyone’s reach, in the centre of thought and communication of musical creation, so much so that often the technological device was better presented and described than the actual piece of music.

Today the situation has changed dramatically: the technology is increasingly more complex and its development increasingly in the hands of specialised companies, with large technical set-ups and with commercial ends in sight. Nevertheless, the fact that there is an extremely diversified technology and that its use is relatively simple and within the reach of all has resulted in evolution in the aesthetic field and in the richness of the work produced; the technology is no longer more an element for judging the work but rather an essential element in its existence.

It is in this context that the evolution of technology must be critically thought about. There are very few centres specialising in contemporary music today that are capable of conceiving, developing and above all commercialising specific products in the long term. This results in a growing separation between those that develop (big companies) and those that use (composers and players). What are the expectations of the creators in the technological setting? Do they agree with the current situation regarding technologies or are they looking for new tools? If this is the case, how can the conception of new systems be brought closer to the innovative ambitions of the creators?

Interpretation and perception

The phenomenon of playing music is historically based on the fact that on the one hand there is the creator and on the other, the listener, or the audience. This relationship has changed between them over the last decades: the emergence of music created with new technology caused a situation whereby the composer directed the work straight at the listener, without intermediaries, in “acousmatic” concerts at which the listener attended a show for the hearing. In more recent cases, it is the listener, often called the “user”, who will play a decision-making role in the way in which a musical phenomenon passes. This is what is known as interactivity. In other words, the method and the scope with which a user relates to a computer system.

However, this did not mean that the player disappeared: on the contrary, new forms of playing were developed as traditional writing became more complex, as a result of the integration of technological devices by the players themselves, and due to the appearance of players of machines, devices, computers and decks, in which the player function is doubled up with that of the creator.

Alongside the evolution in the ways that the creator transmits to the listener and the evolution in the concept of the concert, changes are taking place in the way we perceptively face the musical phenomenon. The universe of possible sounds for music has continually expanded to the point where any sound is potentially useable in music. Our way of listening and playing sound phenomena has changed dramatically: by listening to music, our mind is open to all kinds of situations, sound or visual, in which there are no distinctions between musical sounds and noises, but acceptance, rejection, attraction or repulsion.

Philosophy has taken part in this situation: starting from the first ideas regarding phenomenology, many thinkers, musicians and philosophers have become interested in the problem of what we hear, how we hear and how the brain goes from perception to sense, particularly in situations of expansion and enrichment of possibilities in sound. Despite this, hearing continues to be a mystery, particularly in matters relating to the creation of the sense and the generation of pleasure.

Sociology and aesthetics

Technology, and the changes that have been introduced through it in music production and transmission, has influenced the behaviour of listeners and particularly the role of music in society. Music is not only omnipresent, but it is consumed in any situation and circumstance and, above all, consumed at all times. Sound reproduction systems surround us in all the situations of daily life: to this is added the immediate legal or illegal access to any type of music, which poses the question about a change in the function of music and in its role in the development of society.

Access to music is made through players and recordings: attendance at concerts, although still important, is very small compared to the circulation of recorded music. Perhaps this evolution can be interpreted, the beginning of which would be situated with the appearance of music created with recorders, as a development towards the listener’s autonomy and their capacity to create the world of sound they yearn and dream for. Nevertheless, while autonomy is developing, the need for and presence of referents, myths, trends and other forms of identification and differentiation are becoming increasingly more significant. The listener often knows the technology required and is capable of controlling it, but needs more the figure that goes beyond the technology, that which expresses desires, longings and hopes.

As well as looking into the phenomena of popular music, we will be discussing a multitude of musical theories, aesthetic currents and attitudes towards sound and music. Despite the massive fragmentation of musical currents, are there common denominators, identifiable tendencies, currents of philosophical thought or aesthetic communities? The answers will be contradictory, will depend on the cultural context, the social context or simply the understanding that the listener has of Music as an infinite universe.