The Oxford Handbook of Timbre (Oxford Handbooks)

Cover The Oxford Handbook of TIMBRE Copyright About the Editors Contents List of Contributors Acknowledgments About the Companion Website INTRODUCTION Chapter 1: Timbre: Alternative Histories and Possible Futures for the Study of Music Philosophies of Timbre Histories and Cultures of Timbre Timbral Technologies Perception and Analysis Notes Bibliography PART I: PHILOSOPHIES Chapter 2: The Matter of Timbre: Listening, Genealogy, Sound The Materiality of Sound Timbre: Analytically Timbre: Genealogically Timbral Presets and the Micropolitics of Format Notes Bibliography Chapter 3: Deconstruction and Timbre Silvery Bells The Timbre of Philosophy Syncope Contagion Trompebelly Notes Bibliography Chapter 4: Timbrality: The Vibrant Aesthetics of Tone Color No Words/No Theory Difference/Identity Excess/Sublime Paradoxes/Binaries Vibration and Vitality Timbrality: Vibrant Aesthetics Notes Bibliography Chapter 5: Qur’an Alphabetics and the Timbre of Recitation On Alphabetics Timbral Histories I: Muhammad’s qur’an̄ Timbral Histories II: The Audible Science of Tajwid Oral Alphabetics: Nasality and Elongation Timbre as Revelation as Sound: Meccan Suras Architectural Alphabetics: Body and Stone Conclusion: Imam with a Lisp Notes Bibliography Chapter 6.1: Translations: Adorno and Dahlhaus Notes Chapter 6.2: The Function of Timbre in Music (1966) I II III b Chapter 6.3: On the Theory of Instrumentation (1985) PART II: HISTORIES AND CULTURES Chapter 7: Ethereal Timbres Introduction Listening to the Album of Nature Crystal Boxing Nature Instrumentalized The Electronic Ethereal Always Already Sound Art Notes Bibliography Chapter 8: Timbre-Centered Listening in the Soundscape of Tuva The Natural World: A Timbral Soundscape Describing Timbre Drone-OvertoneSound Production as a Source of Timbral Complexity Musical Instrument Design for Timbre-CenteredMusic Sounding Tuvan: Timbre as a Marker of Authenticity Hearing the World Timbrally Notes Bibliography Chapter 9: Tracing Timbre in Ancient Greece Timbral Language in Archaic and Classical Greek Poetry Cultic Polyphony in Aeschylus’ Edonians Percussive Noise in Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes Locating Timbre in Scientific Treatises Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Chapter 10: Early Modern Voices Phonognomia Liquid Souls Notes Bibliography Chapter 11: Timbre Before Timbre: Listening to the Effects of Organ Stops, Violin Mutes, and Piano Pedals ca. 1650–1800 Vocabularies of Sound and Instrumental Behaviors Sounding Soft Inventing Timbral Vocabularies Composing with Timbre Piano Tone Rethinking Timbre Notes Bibliography Chapter 12: Schoenberg as Sound Student: Pierrot’s Klang Rehearing Klang Klang in the World Klang in the Creative Process of Pierrot lunaire Hearing Pierrot’s Klang Notes Bibliography Chapter 13: Futurist Timbres: Listening Failure in Milan, 1909–1914 Cities and Others Technically Timbre Socializing Noise Interference as Heard Notes Bibliography PART III: TECHNOLOGIES Chapter 14: Timbral Thievery: Synthesizers and Sonic Materiality Variations: Timbre and the Sounding Source An Apparatus for the Artificial Construction of Vowels The RCA Mark II The Yamaha GX-1 Conclusions Notes Bibliography Chapter 15: Timbre/Techne Timbre and Pathology Composers as Neuroscientists? Trompe-l’oreille Notes Bibliography Chapter 16: Technology and Timbre: Features of the Changing Instrumental Soundscape of the Long Nineteenth Century (1789–1914) Hands, Slides, Keys, and Valves: Brass Instruments and the Musical Landscape of the Long Nineteenth Century Technology and Nationality Early Adopters A Matter of Class Apples and Oranges in the Service of Orchestration Back to the Future Notes Bibliography Chapter 17: Don’t Choose the Nightingale: Timbre, Index, and Birdsong in Respighi’s Pini di Roma Malipiero’s Animal Problem A Nightingale Joins the Band Capturing Birdsong Against Nature Reading the Pines (with D’Annunzio) Listening to the Pines (with Beethoven) Orchestration as Alchemy Notes Bibliography Chapter 18: The Naturalization of Timbre: Two Case Studies What Can Birds Tell Us about Timbre? Hearing Timbre in Nature:Representing Birdsong from 1900 to 1920 Testing Timbre in Nature: Training Black-capped Chickadeesat the Beginning of the Twenty-firstCentury Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 19: Music for Cochlea rImplants Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography PART IV: PERCEPTION AND ANALYSIS Chapter 20: Perceptual Processes in Orchestration Introduction Blend and Concurrent Grouping Orchestration Manuals and Treatises Auditory Scene Analysis and Blend Studies Segregation, Stratification, and Sequential Grouping Orchestration Manuals and Treatises Auditory Scene Analysis and Segregation Studies Orchestral Contrasts, Progressive Orchestration, and Segmental Grouping Orchestration Manuals and Treatises Auditory Scene Analysis and Segmentation Studies Summary Notes Bibliography Chapter 21: Timbre as Harmony—Harmony as Timbre Risset—Webern—Schoenberg Schoenberg: Tone Color and Pitch Auditory Scene Analysis and Chimeric Percepts Chimeras Harmony Mediated by Timbre . . . . . . and Timbre as a Product of Harmony Future Directions Notes Bibliography Chapter 22: Timbre and Polyphony in Balinese Gamelan Gamelan Sound and Technique A Preview of the Argument From Timbre to Organology From Contour to Counterpoint From Polyphony to Timbre Applying the Analysis to Listening Notes Bibliography Chapter 23: Describing Sound: The Cognitive Linguistics of Timbre Background Empirical Approaches to Timbre Description Acoustic Correlates of Timbre Descriptors Dimensions of Timbre Description Timbre Description in Everyday Musicking How Timbre Semantics Reflects Conceptual Structure Timbre and Synesthesia Conclusion In memoriam Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Chapter 24: Timbre, Komplexeindruck, and Modernity: Klangfarbe as a Catalyst of Psychological Research in Carl Stumpf, 1890–1926 Wolfgang Köhler and the Search for a Psychological Theory of Timbre Timbre and the Dynamics of Psychological Phenomena and Functions Competing Styles of Analysis: Karl Erich Schumann’s Velocity Law Toward the Experimental Analysis and Synthesis of Vowels: Die Sprachlaute Beyond Harmonicist Theories: The Trautonium Epistemologies of Timbre Notes Bibliography Chapter 25: Pitch vs. Timbre Mere Noise Husks, Kernels Dried Flowers Similarity vs. Difference Postscript: Divide and Conquer Notes Bibliography Chapter 26: “Where Were You When You Found Out Singer Bobby Caldwell Was White?”: Racialized Timbre as Narrative Arc Timbre as Racial Essence The Timbre–Race Disequilibrium Cycle “Where Were You When You Found Out Bobby Caldwell Was White?” Historical Obscuring of Caldwell’s Whiteness The Voice The Timbre–Race Disequilibrium Cycle in The Voice Conclusion Notes References Index Pathways & Trajectories : A Guide to the Organization and Use of This Book -- Ethereal Timbres / Emily Dolan and Thomas Patteson -- Deconstruction and Timbre / Naomi Waltham-Smith -- Timbrality : The Vibrant Aesthetics of Tone Color / Isabella van Elferen -- Qur'an Alphabetics and the Timbre of Recitation / Peter McMurray -- The Matter of Timbre : Listening, Genealogy, Sound / Daniel Villegas Vélez -- Translations / Gage Averill -- 'Where Were You When You Found Out Singer Bobby Caldwell Was White?' : Racialized Timbre as Narrative Arc / Nina Sun Eidsheim and Schuyler Whelden -- Music for Cochlear Implants / Stefan Helmreich -- Schoenberg as Sound Student : Pierrot's Klang / Joseph Auner -- Pitch vs. Timbre / Daniel Walden -- Tracing Timbre in Ancient Greece / Naomi Weiss -- Early Modern Voices / Bettina Varwig -- Timbre Before Timbre : Listening to the Effects of Organ Stops, Violin Mutes and Piano Pedals c. 1650-1800 / Deirdre Loughridge -- Futurist Timbres : Listening Failure in Milan / Gavin Williams -- Timbre-Centered Listening in the Soundscape of Tuva / Theodore Levin and Valentina Süzükei -- Timbral Thievery : Synthesizers and Sonic Materiality / Jonathan De Souza -- Timbre/Techne / Alexander Rehding -- Complex Impression and Klangfarbe : Timbre as a Catalyst of Carl Stumpf's Psychological Research / Sebastian Klotz -- Don't Choose the Nightingale : Timbre, Index, and Birdsong in Respighi's "Pini di Roma" / Arman Schwartz -- The Naturalization of Timbre : Two Case Studies / Alexandra Hui -- Perceptual Processes in Orchestration / Meghan Goodchild and Stephen McAdams -- Timbre as Harmony-Harmony as Timbre / Robert Hasegawa -- Timbre and Polyphony in Balinese Gamelan / Michael Tenzer -- Describing Sound : the Cognitive Linguistics of Timbre / Zachary Wallmark and Roger A. Kendall -- Technology and Timbre : Features of the Changing Instrumental Soundscape of the Long Nineteenth Century (1789-1914) / Elizabeth Bradley Strauchen-Scherer Pathways et Trajectories : A Guide to the Organization and Use of This Book -- Ethereal Timbres / Emily Dolan and Thomas Patteson -- Deconstruction and Timbre / Naomi Waltham-Smith -- Timbrality : The Vibrant Aesthetics of Tone Color / Isabella van Elferen -- Qur'an Alphabetics and the Timbre of Recitation / Peter McMurray -- The Matter of Timbre : Listening, Genealogy, Sound / Daniel Villegas Vélez -- Translations / Gage Averill -- 'Where Were You When You Found Out Singer Bobby Caldwell Was White?' : Racialized Timbre as Narrative Arc / Nina Sun Eidsheim and Schuyler Whelden -- Music for Cochlear Implants / Stefan Helmreich -- Schoenberg as Sound Student : Pierrot's Klang / Joseph Auner -- Pitch vs. Timbre / Daniel Walden -- Tracing Timbre in Ancient Greece / Naomi Weiss -- Early Modern Voices / Bettina Varwig -- Timbre Before Timbre : Listening to the Effects of Organ Stops, Violin Mutes and Piano Pedals c. 1650-1800 / Deirdre Loughridge -- Futurist Timbres : Listening Failure in Milan / Gavin Williams -- Timbre-Centered Listening in the Soundscape of Tuva / Theodore Levin and Valentina Süzükei -- Timbral Thievery : Synthesizers and Sonic Materiality / Jonathan De Souza -- Timbre/Techne / Alexander Rehding -- Complex Impression and Klangfarbe : Timbre as a Catalyst of Carl Stumpf's Psychological Research / Sebastian Klotz -- Don't Choose the Nightingale : Timbre, Index, and Birdsong in Respighi's "Pini di Roma" / Arman Schwartz -- The Naturalization of Timbre : Two Case Studies / Alexandra Hui -- Perceptual Processes in Orchestration / Meghan Goodchild and Stephen McAdams -- Timbre as Harmony-Harmony as Timbre / Robert Hasegawa -- Timbre and Polyphony in Balinese Gamelan / Michael Tenzer -- Describing Sound : the Cognitive Linguistics of Timbre / Zachary Wallmark and Roger A. Kendall -- Technology and Timbre : Features of the Changing Instrumental Soundscape of the Long Nineteenth Century (1789-1914) / Elizabeth Bradley Strauchen-Scherer Despite its importance as a central feature of musical sounds, timbre has rarely stood in the limelight. First defined in the eighteenth century, denigrated during the nineteenth, the concept of timbre came into its own during the twentieth century and its fascination with synthesizers and electronic music-or so the story goes. But in fact, timbre cuts across all the boundaries that make up musical thought-combining scientific and artistic approaches to music, material and philosophical aspects, and historical and theoretical perspectives. Timbre challenges us to fundamentally reorganize the way we think about music.The twenty-five essays that make up this collection offer a variety of engagements with music from the perspective of timbre. The boundaries are set as broad as possible: from ancient Homeric sounds to contemporary sound installations, from birdsong to cochlear implants, from Tuvan overtone singing to the tv show The Voice, from violin mutes to Moog synthesizers. What unifies the essays across this vast diversity is the material starting point of the sounding object. This focus on the listening experience is radical departure from the musical work that has traditionally dominated musical discourse since its academic inception in late-nineteenth-century Europe.Timbre remains a slippery concept that has continuously demanded more, be it more precise vocabulary, a more systematic theory, or more rigorous analysis. Rooted in the psychology of listening, timbre consistently resists pinning complete down. This collection of essays provides an invitation for further engagement with the range of fascinating questions that timbre opens up. Despite its importance as a central feature of musical sounds, timbre has rarely stood in the limelight. First defined in the eighteenth century, denigrated during the nineteenth, the concept of timbre came into its own during the twentieth century and its fascination with synthesizers and electronic music-or so the story goes. But in fact, timbre cuts across all the boundaries that make up musical thought-combining scientific and artistic approaches to music, material and philosophical aspects, and historical and theoretical perspectives. Timbre challenges us to fundamentally reorganize the way we think about music. The twenty-five essays that make up this collection offer a variety of engagements with music from the perspective of timbre. The boundaries are set as broad as possible: from ancient Homeric sounds to contemporary sound installations, from birdsong to cochlear implants, from Tuvan overtone singing to the tv show The Voice, from violin mutes to Moog synthesizers. What unifies the essays across this vast diversity is the material starting point of the sounding object. This focus on the listening experience is radical departure from the musical work that has traditionally dominated musical discourse since its academic inception in late-nineteenth-century Europe. Timbre remains a slippery concept that has continuously demanded more, be it more precise vocabulary, a more systematic theory, or more rigorous analysis. Rooted in the psychology of listening, timbre consistently resists pinning complete down. This collection of essays provides an invitation for further engagement with the range of fascinating questions that timbre opens up. Elusive, timbre has long elicited by turns frustration and fascination. Dismissed as a secondary parameter, decried as mere sensuous surface, and deconstructed as a non-hierarchical quality beset with paradoxes, timbre has traditionally evaded straightforward classification, analysis, and definition. Recent scholarship has begun to embrace timbre in all of its rich messiness, and this volume demonstrates how a focus on timbre can reorganize the field of sound. Spanning an enormous range of sonic expressions-from Tuvan throat singing to R&B, from Homeric recitations to cochlear implants-this innovative collection puts the spotlight on timbre in its historical, philosophical, technological, and cognitive dimensions, and offers suggestions for further study This Handbook Is Currently In Development, With Individual Articles Publishing Online In Advance Of Print Publication. At This Time, We Cannot Add Information About Unpublished Articles In This Handbook, However The Table Of Contents Will Continue To Grow As Additional Articles Pass Through The Review Process And Are Added To The Site. Please Note That The Online Publication Date For This Handbook Is The Date That The First Article In The Title Was Published Online.