Timbre as a Structuring Force in Music

Abstract

The study of timbre by music researchers is seriously underdeveloped in both the humanities and human sciences. As applied to instrumental music, theories to explain instrumental combinations and timbral shaping through instrumentation and orchestration are rare. Analyses of orchestration treatises and musical scores reveal an implicit understanding of auditory grouping principles by which many orchestral techniques and their perceptual effects function. This chapter, with a primary focus on classical Western orchestral and electroacoustic music, discusses connections between orchestration practice and perceptual principles based on research in auditory scene analysis and timbre perception. The chapter explores: (1) listeners’ abilities to perceive relations among timbres; (2) how concurrent grouping cues result in blended or heterogeneous combinations of instruments; (3) how sequential groupings into segregated melodic streams and stratified foreground and background layers are influenced by timbral similarities and differences; and (4) how segmental grouping cues based on changes in instrument timbre and instrumental textures create musical units, formal boundaries, and expressive shaping of timbre melodies and larger-scale orchestral gestures.