A tentative assumption of electroacoustic music as an enjoyable music for diverse people

Abstract

Music went through a huge transformation between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. Part of this transformation involved the separation of music intended for entertainment, which everyone can enjoy, and music that is primarily artistic and philosophical. The latter became more esoteric: today this type of ‘artistic’ music is often called ‘contemporary music’, and it has yet to win many supporters. The reason for this is believed to be that the artistic expression of music is ‘difficult’ for many people to interpret. However, we disprove this theory, developing a workshop aimed at creating electroacoustic, or contemporary, music with a diverse group of people. From these workshops, we determine that electroacoustic music is actually experienced as ‘enjoyable’ by many people. This paper describes our tentative assumption that both our artistic and research activities support this idea, and its implications to integrating aesthetic and philosophical points of view.