I was initially drawn to Jean-Claude Risset after learning of his use of psychoacoustic effects in his compositions. Lately, I have been seeking a more scientific approach to my music in which I try to garner tangible information and knowledge about the world around me by tracking my perceptual responses to varying musical stimuli. This has naturally led me to a new found interest in discovering more about how my brain processes information and why I have specific responses to different musical situations. As well as being a stimulating way of approaching of music, many, including myself, believe this mode of interaction with music can yield valuable information far beyond the realm of music (Risset 1994, p.257; Deutsch 1980, p. 166). As I found out through my research, my orientation is consistent with the approach of many computer musicians. As Deutsch (1980, p.167) explains, the development of electronic technology, which essentially makes any sound possible, has led composers and theorists into a necessary investigation of the perceptual limits of human hearing so that they can adequately constrain their compositions within the realm of the listener (Deutsch 1980, p.167). The same technological innovations have also led psychologists to further experiments in psychological perception whose findings have influenced the way composers and theorists understand and think about music (Deutsch 1980, p.167).

Risset is a good example of a musician who effectively combines science and music. Born in 1938 in Le Puy, France, he studied piano and composition and also mathematics and physics earning a doctorate of Sciences from L’Ecole Normale Superieure in 1967. Risset has held positions at many experimental institutions including Bell laboratories (1965 and 1967-1969), Orsay (1970-1971) where he supervised the installation of a computer sound synthesis system, the University of Marseille-Luminy (1974) and IRCAM where he acted as head of the Computer Department (1975-1979). Currently Jean-Claude Risset directs the Laboratoire de mechanique at d’acoustique, Marseille. Risset feels his “scientific work on sound synthesis and perception brings with it novel possibilities for sculpting sounds” his “musical experience helps [his] research by providing reference points, short-cuts and insights (Risset 1994, p.257).”

Risset composed the music for “Little Boy” to accompany a play by Pierre Halet in which a pilot relives the bombing of Hiroshima in a dream and subsequently suffers a psychological collapse. The “aleComputer Suite” from Little Boy is comprised of the computer generated portion of the incidental music which was created utilizing Music V, a computer synthesis program created by Max Mathews in the 1960’s. It is often considered to be the first substantial piece of music entirely synthesized by computer (Risset 1994, p.257; Risset 1988, p.10).

One of the more interesting aspects of the piece is Risset’s clever use of a musical paradox: an ever-descending glissando which appropriately reflects the pilot’s descent into madness. This psychoacoustic effect is an extension of a technique first developed by Roger Shepard in the form of a forever-rising chromatic scale and makes use of the fact that we tend to perceive equivalence between tones an octave apart (Pierce 1992, p.215). Risset adapted the idea to get the sliding effect of a falling bomb, presenting a fine example of how one might harness psychoacoustic knowledge to promote the artistic expression of a work. Other paradoxical effects Risset has used include a taped sound that appears to decrease in speed when its speed is in fact doubled, and a rhythm that appears to slow down as its tempo increases (Pierce 1992, p.214). Risset’s goal in using these devices is to stimulate the listener into entering an “internal world” that is “intriguing” and “captivating” (Risset 1994, p.259)

Some of the instrumental sounds heard in the Computer Suite benefit from scientific work that Risset conducted in the area of sound synthesis. In an important study at Bell Laboritories in 1964, Risset and Mathews worked to extract physical characteristics from instrumental tones and then tried to synthesize these sounds according to their physical parameters (Deutsch 1980, p.177). Notably, they discovered that brass instruments do not display static frequency relationships but change over time with the high partials starting later and falling earlier than the lower partials (Deutsch 1980, p.177). They also found that there were some random variations in frequencies necessary to give a brassy sound (Pierce 1992, p.196). When the computer-generated sounds were played back to brass players with attention to these details, the musicians could not tell the synthesized from the natural brass tone (Pierce 1992, p.196). One can hear the result of these acoustic experiments in the recurring jazz motif that occurs frequently in the first and third movements (Risset 1988, p.10).

As Rondeleux (1999, p.305) notes, the growth of digital technology has resulted in a new aesthetic orientation in computer music in which the physical sounds become objects of musical meaning. Risset is just one of many proponents of “Sound Art” in which the creation of the sounds themselves become an integral part of the musical expression. He refers to the “inharmonic structuring of timbre” as a method he used to control the progression of tone colors in the “Computer Suite” (Risset 1988, p.10). Using the Music V software, Risset was able to extend his control over harmonic structure to include timbres of gongs and bells and other instruments with complex partial relationships that in the past were extremely difficult or impossible for the composer to control with real instruments (Mathews, Moore & Risset 1974, p.266). This new technology opened up new structural possibilities as well, in which Risset could manipulate the same material to create different perceptual effects, for example hearing partials as individual components or as a harmonic gestalt (Risset 1994, p.259). This is notable in the beginning of the piece where Risset manipulates bell-like harmonies into melody through the “spectral analyses of chords” (Risset 1988, p.10).

Part 2

The music I have chosen to present comes from the popular music realm and is performed by a group called the Animal Collective. What I find interesting about their music is the use of techniques and aesthetics that were developed in contemporary music over the last 50 years but have experienced rather limited use in the popular arena. Recently, I have noticed that some of these sounds have begun to enjoy wider acceptance with audiences through pop music. Some of the techniques notable in Animal Collective that are consistent with contemporary music are the use of static harmonies, use of timbre to express the primary musical meaning, the use of complex cross-rhythms influenced by African music, phasing using similar instrumental timbres to create perceptual ambiguities, and the creative use of stereo imaging and reverb to create a perception of space.