Sunday, October 18, 2009

Electrophony

The music we listen to now is almost exclusively electrophony. Electrophony refers to musical instruments utilizing electricity in some way. Electrophonic instruments differ from e.g. trombones, lutes, and drums. The level of electrophony in music varies. At one extreme end, a song created with synthesizers and drum machines, transmitted across the internet, into a listener's basilar implant may never have existed anywhere as a sound wave. At the other extreme, a song sung around a campfire with an accompanying guitar and harmonica relies on electricity for nothing but the internal biochemical structure of the listeners and their instruments. (excerpt from current thesis)