Dissonance theory of sound objects

With the central compositional role it places on timbre, electroacoustic music poses new questions and problems in existing definitions of musical dissonance. However, no comprehensive musical theory of dissonance as it relates to sound objects themselves or their syntactical constructs has yet been proposed. While the theory described in this dissertation is not comprehensive by any means, it attempts to paint a skeletal model of one through both musical and technical approaches.; This dissertation first proposes the concept that individual sound objects can be considered relatively consonant or dissonant, just as theorists have historically described dyads (and only more recently, chords) comprised of distinct pitches, by examining historical writings on dissonance and projecting linkages to the electroacoustic medium. Furthermore, it proposes a rudimentary musical model---not a mathematical or cognitivist one, of which several already do exist---of "timbral consonance" defined in terms of compositional aspects of electro-acoustic music. In a manner similar to how purely pitch-based notions of dissonance has informed the syntax of tension and release in tonal music, so has the timbral counterpoint of "consonant" and "dissonant" sound objects, if at only an intuitive level.; Next, the concept of quantifying dissonance---both in historical context and current theoretical practice---is addressed, along with the extent to which objectification of dissonance is musically informative for analysis of particularly non-notated music. Subsequently, the dissertation formally defines the term "sound object," motivating the necessity of viewing musical dissonance as an inherent property of a sound object, and it argues that sound objects themselves naturally fall onto multidimensional axes of consonance and dissonance with respect to particular physical and perceptual properties. A battery of listening tests that were conducted to test the proposed theory are then described and analyzed to attempt to find physical properties of sound and psychoacoustic factors that may influence the perception of sound-object dissonance.; As a supplement to this dissertation, my composition Tilt for 7.1-channel computer playback with optional live electronics is included on an enclosed DVD. The work was commissioned in 2002 by the International Computer Music Association, and, while a separate project from this essay, is included here as a supplement. The DVD contains program notes and data files containing audio tracks, along with a two-channel mixdown.