Voice type and speech sound type: Two analytical categories proposed for characterisation of acousmatic pieces that include vocal materials

This paper presents two analytical categories which were applied to works included in my portfolio of compositions as part of my PhD dissertation presented at the University of Sheffield in December 2018. Each piece was analysed using five taxonomies. Three of them are classifications provided by well-established systems: sound object theory (Schaffer 1966), spectromorphology (Smalley 1997), and space function levels (Vande Gorne 2010). Every category within each type of analysis, is represented graphically by means of the EAnalysis software (Couprie 2014), showing their distribution across five corresponding timelines, allowing a visual comparison between them. An explanation of these well-established systems is presented to understand the way they are used in the analysis of the portfolio, providing in this way a context for the original two categories proposed.

Likewise, the remaining two taxonomies can be read comparatively with the others and were proposed by me and focus on vocal and linguistic materials which are present in the works. They are voice type and speech sound type, making reference respectively to the inclusion or absence of semantic content and to a categorization of phonetic elements within each piece. In order to test them beyond the analysis of my own compositions, they have begun to be applied to some compositions from the repertoire, one of which is shown as an example in this article.