Introduction

This introductory chapter discusses the historiography of electronic music as presented in two narrative surveys (by J. Peter Burkholder et al. and Richard Taruskin/Christopher H. Gibbs). It outlines the scope of the volume and highlights the topics of digital musicking, instrumentality, materiality, agency, posthumanism, collaboration, and narrative in acousmatic and sample-based music. Pierre Schaeffer’s early writings in musique concrète are examined as sources for instructional strategies based in active inquiry and creative emulation.