Mixed music describes music combining acoustic instruments and electronics. Mixed music is a subcategory of electroacoustic music. While this term may be applied to many genres, the it generally refers to contemporary classical music and, is therefore distinct from live electronic music.

The term Mixed music is probably a calque of the French musique mixte.

History

Electroacoustic music originated in the late 1940s through early 1950s through the musique concrète movement spearheaded by Pierre Schaeffer and the Groupe de recherches musicales based in Paris, France and the development of sound synthesis at the Studio for Electronic Music of Cologne, Germany. The practice of using magnetic tape as a recording medium gave rise to the genre of tape music, wherein the musical composition is stored on and played from tape, without any live performance. Mixed music began as an integration between tape music and traditional performance, where human musicians perform simultaneously with an electronic part played on tape.

Significant early works

Technical categories

Over the years, three main technical categories of mixed music have developed, reflecting the evolving role of the electronics and the degree of interactivity with the performers.

  • Fixed media and performer refers to an electronic part that does not interact with the performers. All sounds are precomposed for the performers and electronics, without any possibility for the performer's gestures to influence the sound.
  • Live electronics introduces the possibility of interaction between the performers and electronics through manipulating the sound captured live via microphone, such as adding live effects or interpreting certain sonic parameters of a performance and using it to influence subsequent sonic output.
  • Augmented performer involves modifying instruments or performers' bodies to affect and capture the resulting sound of the performance gestures. This could capture otherwise inaudible sounds, such as keyclicks in a flute, or capture non-sonic gestures such as movement to influence the resulting sound.

Associated institutions & significant works

A number of institutions have been key in the evolution of technologies pertinent to the creation of mixed music:

Suggested further reading

  • Puckette, Miller The Theory and Technique of Electronic Music, May 23, 2007; World Scientific Publishing Company (978-9812700773)
  • Schaeffer, Pierre In Search of a Concrete Music, January 8, 2013; University of California Press (978-0520265745)
  • Manoury, Philippe La musique du temps reél, 2012, Éditions MF (978-2915794564)