Musique concrète (French for "concrete music" or "real music"), is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sonorities derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical" (melody, harmony, rhythm, metre and so on). The theoretical underpinnings of the aesthetic were developed by Pierre Schaeffer, beginning in the late 1940s.

The French composer and theorist Pierre Schaeffer is credited with originating musique concrete in five works for tape alone (known collectively as Cinq études de bruits, or Five Studies of Noises) including Etude violette (Study in Purple) and Etude aux chemins de fer (Study of Railroads). The works were premiered at a concert given in Paris on the 5th of October 1948 (Chion 1983). The development of musique concrete was facilitated by the emergence of new music technology in post-war Europe.

Access to microphones and magnetic tape recorders (created in 1939), afforded by an association with the French national broadcasting organization, at that time the Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française, gave Schaeffer and his colleagues an opportunity to experiment with recording technology and tape manipulation. Schaeffer developed an aesthetic practice that was centered upon the use of sound as a primary compositional resource and emphasized the importance of play (jeu) in the creation of music. Schaeffer's use of jeu, from the verb jouer, carries the same double meaning as the English verb play: 'to enjoy oneself by interacting with one's surroundings', as well as 'to operate a musical instrument'.

This notion is central to the musique concrète aesthetic.

Similar to 0 things you like: