ABSTRACT
The paper considers the aesthetic implications of employing sounds from the real world as musical material. It takes the view that music composed from, and about, real-world sounds shares concerns already explored by writers and practitioners in film, poetry and other non-sonic arts. The preoccupations of, among others, film-makers Eisenstein and Vertov, philosophers Bachelard and Casey and composers themselves are investigated to support the contention that real-world tape music is enriched and, to some extent formed, through the listener’s imaginative response: real-world sounds —their meaning, being and sonic implic-ations-encourage an internalized listening montage; a composed listening constructed in order to make imaginative sense from non-narrative sonic journeys.
