ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the idea of even relatively conventional 'concert-hall' listening as an active process of attentional exploration, memory, expectation and surprise is central to the redefinition of coherence particularly in the way it extends Eric Clarke's account of musical affordance. Clarke explores the ramifications of this ecological approach primarily within the interstices of music theory, perceptual psychology and sociology. The first connection is with the image of the rhizome found within the writings of the French theorists Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. There is a connection here with Adams's aesthetic heritage. The use of interlocking processes to generate perceptual complexity was a recurrent concern of early minimalist music, particularly within the works of Steve Reich and Philip Glass. The chapter outlines these connections before combining them with an analytical tool drawn from semiotics to offer a further analysis of the structure and effect of Adams's concerto movement.
