Experimental Music

The experimental music , in a general and popular direction, this term generally indicates a whole of Musique S being characterized by a broad tendency to experimentation. This type of music is characterized by a questioning of the Convention S and standards used in Western traditional musics.

But the term is prone to confusion because according to the broad or restricted direction in which one approaches it, it does not indicate the same categories of musics.

Various directions of the term

The term is prone to confusion because it can be employed in several different directions: maybe like a synonym in the broad sense of the Modern music or on the contrary in a restricted direction indicating only certain precise tendencies of this music. The term can be also employed in a direction even broader and also include with the modern music and the whole of the popular musics avant-gardists.

Original employment

In the beginning the term indicated a tendency of the modern erudite music exclusively. The term appeared in the Fifties in Europe. It was then employed to indicate the Concrete music, the Electronic music as well as the fusion of these two movements: the electroacoustic Music. Sometimes in a wider direction it could indicate the whole of the tendencies avant-gardists of the Modern music.

Evolution of the term and employment in the United States

During the Sixties, the term took a direction more particularly restricted with the the United States. It was then mainly used to distinguish from the anti-traditional type-setters (like John Cage) by contrast with the European tendency avant-gardist. This music is characterized by a will of deresponsabilisation of the type-setter, a not-determinism of the creative gesture and thus a partly unforeseeable musical result. A will of not-control which goes contrary to the approaches of the official music avant-gardist European of the more formal time such as the integral serialism which is characterized by a determinism and a total control of all the musical parameters. In this precise case the direction of the word " music expérimental" present only one of the many tendencies of the modern music and thus the European forms avant-gardists such as the Serial music does not include or the Concrete music. In this precise direction, the Compositeur John Cage was one of the pioneers of the experimental music; by its compositions, it contributed to define the bases of this movement. It is generally in this direction that American hears the " term; music expérimental".

Employment generalized with all the modern music

But it frequently happens that the term of experimental music is simply used to actually indicate the Modern music by people not very familiar of the kind, for which the “experimental” denomination seems more explicit to them than the term “contemporary”. But much of type-setters of modern music reject the “experimental” name which they find reducing. Indeed, the term can cover for much a connotation suggesting that the type-setters do not control really their material and test all and anything. Vision that many type-setters reject, even if their music is seen by much like “experimental”, because apart from the standards.

Employment generalized with all the musics avant-gardists

Finally in the most popular direction, the term “music experimental” is used to indicate in an undifferentiated way the unit of the musics as well erudite as popular having an approach avant-gardist or except standard.

What thus includes:

  • the whole of the various tendencies of the Modern music

    • the Sérialisme,
    • the Concrete music,
    • electroacoustic Music
    • Music stochastic minimalist
    • Music
    • spectral Music
    • etc…

And various popular avant-gardists and experimental musics such as

And sometimes too

Refer

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