Simultaneously with the widespread availability of digital tools in the early-mid 1980s, many signifying practices - visual arts, dance, electroacoustic music - which had for some time been characterised by self-reflexive 'abstract' work began to show a more explicit interest in various forms of narrative. From an acknowledgement that a work can explicitly document its own making it is a relatively small step to incorporating anecdotal, or programmatic-illustrative elements, and, encouraged by the sampler's propensity for quotation and cross-referencing between works, histories, cultures and genres, it is easy to see that narratives, particularly of the fractured or non-linear variety, may emerge as a fruitful speculative playground.

Clearly the references to narrative here function in music at levels beyond the programmatic-illustrative mode with which we are familiar from much nineteenth century composition. In order to clarify the different possible relations to narrative which might be invoked in the case of electroacoustic music it may be useful to establish a crude heuristic taxonomy of 'narratives' in order to avoid confusion:

• Narrative 1 (involving literal, semantically significant text)
• Narrative 2 (programmatic-illustrative)
• Narrative 3 (documentary-anecdotal)
• Narrative 4 (documentation of compositional process)
• Narrative 5 (use of structural or semantic strategies from natural language, or which are more frequently associated with the linguistic realm)

(Source - Simon Waters "The musical process in the age of digital intervention")

Dans la première moitié des années 80, parallèlement à l'apparition des outils numériques, de nombreuses pratiques signifiantes - art visuel, danse, musique électroacoustique - dont les œuvres avaient été caractérisés comme abstraites ont acquis un intérêt plus explicite pour les diverses formes de récit. En considérant qu'une œuvre peut être un document explicite sur sa fabrication, il suffit de franchir une petite étape pour y incorporer des éléments anecdotiques ou des programmes d'illustration. De plus, encouragé par l'apparition des échantillonneurs et leurs capacités à utiliser des citations et des références entre les œuvres, les histoires, les cultures et les genres, il est facile d'observer que le récit, particulièrement lorsqu'il est fragmenté ou non linéaire, peut émerger comme un jeu spéculatif fructueux.

Il est clair que, dans ce cas, les références au récit fonctionnent en musique sur des niveaux qui sont au-delà des programmes d'illustrations avec lesquels nous sommes familiers depuis le dix-neuvième siècle. Afin de clarifier les différentes relations possibles au récit qui pourraient être utilisées dans le cas de la musique électroacoustique et d'éviter les confusions, il serait utile d'établir une taxinomie heuristique des types de récit :

• récit 1 (texte impliquant le littéral et la signification sémantique) ;
• récit 2 (suivant un programme illustratif) ;
• récit 3 (documentaire anecdotique) ;
• récit 4 (documentation du processus de composition) ;
• récit 5 (utilisation de stratégies de structure ou sémantique à partir d'un langage naturel ou qui sont plus fréquemment associées à la sphère du langage).

(Source - Simon Waters "The musical process in the age of digital intervention")

Nella prima metà degli anni Ottanta, parallelamente all'apparizione degli strumenti numerici, molte pratiche - nelle arti visive, nella danza, nella musica elettroacustica – le cui opere fino a quel momento erano state considerate astratte, hanno cominiciato ad dimostrare interesse per le forme narrative. Considerando che qualsiasi opera può essere accompagnata da una documentazione del proprio processo produttivo, è stato sufficiente incorporare alle opere una parte, per quanto piccola, di natura aneddotica, o programmatica, o illustrativa di qualche elemento, per farle diventare narraiva, tutto giustificato da una certa propensione per la citazione e i riferimenti ad altre opere, alla storia, a culture e generi diversi. La narrazione è diventata un gioco speculativo fruttuoso, in particolare quando il principio di narrazione introdotto è frammentario o non lineare.

Chiaramente, i riferimenti alla narratività funzionano ad un livello che va oltre quello illustravo-programmatico che caratterizzava le opere dell'Ottocento. Nel caso della musica elettroacustica narrativa, po' valere la tassonomia qui sotto presentata:

• Narrativa di tipo 1 (utilizzo di un testo letterario semanticamente significativo)
• Narrativa di tipo 2 (che presenta un programma illustrativo)
• Narrativa di tipo 3 (aneddotica-documentale)
• Narrativa di tipo 4 (documentazione di un processo di composizione)
• Narrativa di tipo 5 (utilizzo di strategie strutturali o semantiche del linguaggio naturale, oppure associato in senso più largo alla sfera linguistica).

(Fonte - Simon Waters The musical process in the age of digital intervention http://www.ariada.uea.ac.uk)

Simultaneously with the widespread availability of digital tools in the early-mid 1980s, many signifying practices - visual arts, dance, electroacoustic music - which had for some time been characterised by self-reflexive 'abstract' work began to show a more explicit interest in various forms of narrative. From an acknowledgement that a work can explicitly document its own making it is a relatively small step to incorporating anecdotal, or programmatic-illustrative elements, and, encouraged by the sampler's propensity for quotation and cross-referencing between works, histories, cultures and genres, it is easy to see that narratives, particularly of the fractured or non-linear variety, may emerge as a fruitful speculative playground.

Clearly the references to narrative here function in music at levels beyond the programmatic-illustrative mode with which we are familiar from much nineteenth century composition. In order to clarify the different possible relations to narrative which might be invoked in the case of electroacoustic music it may be useful to establish a crude heuristic taxonomy of 'narratives' in order to avoid confusion:

• Narrative 1 (involving literal, semantically significant text)
• Narrative 2 (programmatic-illustrative)
• Narrative 3 (documentary-anecdotal)
• Narrative 4 (documentation of compositional process)
• Narrative 5 (use of structural or semantic strategies from natural language, or which are more frequently associated with the linguistic realm)

(Source - Simon Waters "The musical process in the age of digital intervention")

Simultáneamente con la amplia disponibilidad de herramientas digitales a comienzos y mediados de la década del 80, muchas prácticas significantes -artes visuales, danza, música electroacústica- que habían sido caracterizadas durante algún tiempo como obras "abtsractas" autorreflexivas, comenzaron a mostrar un interés más explícito por diversas formas de narrativa. Desde el reconocimiento de que una obra puede documentar explícitamente su propia realización, hay un paso relativamente pequeño a incorporar elementos anecdóticos o programático-ilustrativos, y alentados por la propensión a usar muestras para las citas y las referencias cruzadas entre obras, historias, culturas y géneros, es fácil ver que las narrativas, particularmente aquellas fracturadas o de tipo no lineal, pueden emerger como un espacio especulativo fructífero.

Claramente, las referencias a la narrativa, funcionan en música a niveles más allá del modo programático-ilustrativo con el cual nosotros estamos familizarizados por la mayoría de las composiciones del siglo XIX. Para poder clarificar las diferentes relaciones posibles de la narrativa que podrían ser invocadas en el caso de la música electroacústica, puede ser útil establecer una taxonomía heurística cruda de las "narrativas" para evitar confusión:

• Narrativa 1 (implica textos literales, semanticamente significativos)
• Narrativa 2 (programática-ilustrativa)
• Narrativa 3 (documental-anecdótica)
• Narrativa 4 (documentación del proceso composicional)
• Narrativa 5 (uso de estrategias estructurales o semánticas del lenguaje natural, o de las que están más frecuentemente relacionadas con el campo de la lingüística)

(Fuente: Simon Waters "The musical process in the age of digital intervention")