Spectromorphology: explaining sound-shapes

Key Points

• To establish a descriptive theoretical framework, termed spectromorphology, for understanding and classifying sound-shapes in electroacoustic music where traditional acoustic models and musical metrics are absent.
• Conceptual analysis of acoustic and psychoacoustic shifts from traditional instrumental and vocal models to unrestricted electroacoustic sound design.
• Phenomenological examination of listening barriers caused by ruptured source-cause recognition and absent metric structures.
• Theoretical evaluation of aesthetic and technological challenges faced by composers working with open sonic palettes.
• Electroacoustic music severs traditional listening associations between perceived sounds and physical source mechanisms or standard vocal articulations.
• Conventional musical reference points, including discrete pitches, intervals, metric pulses, and regular beats, are frequently eliminated in electroacoustic sound-shapes.
• Spectromorphology provides a descriptive foundation to navigate aesthetic pathways and categorize sounds based on spectral development and temporal shaping.