temporal textures

I’m thinking now towards Western tonal music.  I’m forgetting now exactly who (maybe it was just my undergraduate set-theory prof), but this person suggested that analysis be considered one suggestive impression. The age old question of how to view passing 6/4 cadences (is it a tonic chord in second inversion or V with a 6 4 - > 5 3 suspension?)  comes to mind. 

Todd, I really like your fifth point. Is spectrographic analysis an algorithmic experience of music/sound recording? Fourier’s? Maybe it is important to note that there are discrepancies between how different entities see music — humans and computers included. The spectrographic paradigm can be novel (and maybe unhelpful) to the roman-number or Schenkerian; conversely, a consideration of the relationship between consonance/dissonance, tension/resolution might be a pleasant reminder to the sound artist (or a nostalgic flashback to undergrad).   

I’m curious to hear your opinions, as i’m contemplating this in relation to my thesis research. I’m contextualizing, analyzing, and theorizing the early improvisations in EEG music as made by Richard Teitelbaum, Alvin Lucier, and David Rosenboom. My thesis is that, in their description of the performance practice of this music, each composer suggests different philosophies of embodiment.

 My approach to analyzing these works is currently mosaic in nature:

 I am thinking that I will present the original electronic circuit/schematic published with each of these composers systems and ( transcribe that into Max  for Millennials) to show the sonic possibilities of each musical system. I did want to incorporate spectrographic renderings of different recordings to show that each realization is unique. I do feel I have to consider my audience, who might benefit from a demonstrative representation of the different performative possibilities within “system” composition. 

These approaches cover showing the piece as an open-form system, and as well speaks (from at least an algorithmic perspective) to variations in timbre, form, etc. This is important background for knowing something about the music. What is lacking of course is an analysis which actually supports my thesis — which leads me back to on of my initial questions: 

is (in this case, the performer’s) first-person text the best method for expressing/analyzing the phenomenology of experiential art? “off-line” prose seems to de-stratify time in much the same way that Ligeti does, as Xin Wei and Garth pointed out. 

Any thoughts are of course welcome — apologies for diverging from the Synthesis thread into my own work, but I hope that this discussion will feed back into related Synthesis work.