To appreciate how unique electronic music is, consider the obvious: nonelectronic music, by definition, is performed by…
To appreciate how unique electronic music is, consider the obvious: nonelectronic music, by definition, is performed by nonamplified, acoustic instruments or the human voice. Until electricity became available, music was generally produced with a relatively small choice of instruments and vocal types. Timbre, the characteristic “color” of any sound, has thus been one of the most stable elements of musical production; in other words, nonelectronic music is identifiable as music (and identifiable in a very short period of time, usually within a second or two) on the basis of its timbres. Western music since the Middle Ages can thus be heard as a series of refinements of the other parameters of musical production that could be varied, traits such as rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, and form. Joanna Demers, 2010. Listening Through the Noise: The Aesthetics of Experimental Electronic Music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.