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Ontological substance and meaning in live electroacoustic music

Jeffrey M. Morris

pp. 216-226

Philosopher Stephen Davies has used the terms "ontologically thin" and "ontologically thick" to describe compositions with varying amounts of flexibility under interpretation. Placing these two poles on a continuum of ontological substance, I extend Davies's ideas to shed light on issues concerning meaning in live electroacoustic music. I demonstrate that algorithmic and interactive elements lend an extra dimension to the existence of the musical work and that the apparent obsolescence of live performance caused by new technology is really an opportunity to develop meaning in a new parameter of musical structure.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-02518-1_15

Full citation:

Morris, J. M. (2009)., Ontological substance and meaning in live electroacoustic music, in K. Jensen (ed.), Computer music modeling and retrieval. genesis of meaning in sound and music, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 216-226.

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