Aural Perception of Acousmatic Music within Pierre Schaeffer's Theoretical Concept

The main purpose of the article is to study the set of P. Schaeffer’s views on the specifics of aural perception of acousmatic music. The research methodology is a comparative method used to determine the innovative value of P. Schaeffer’s research thought on the specifics of the perception of acousmatic works and how to educate ear to music. The composer’s views are compared to the traditional methods of ear training in Western classical music and linked with the musical notation. The scientific novelty is that for the first time in Ukrainian musicology P. Schaeffer’s views on the perception of acousmatic works were studied, and the theoretical work “Solfège de l’objet sonore” was introduced into scientific use. It is an audio presentation of the composer basic concepts and can serve as a manual for ear training. The differentiation of types of aural perception proposed by P. Schaefer from the point of view of concentration on certain properties of sound is investigated, the term “reduced listening” introduced by the composer is analysed. P. Schaeffer’s theoretical work “Solfège de l’objet sonore” is considered, in which the author demonstrates a new approach to the perception of colourful sonorous sound created with the help of electronic technologies. P. Schaeffer’s innovation consists in abstracting from the determination of pitch and focusing on the fundamental elements of electronic music – the sound object, which replaces the tone of a certain pitch as the basic unit of traditional music and must be analysed from the standpoint of internal structural properties. P. Schaeffer’s “Solfège” teaches musicians to distinguish sound objects outside the hierarchical organisation, such as pitch and rhythm. The importance of perceiving musical objects as integral sound formations with their own acoustic content, structure and physical properties has been proved. Conclusions. “Solfège de l’objet sonore” demonstrates the author’s vision of the aural competencies needed to perceive acousmatic music. P. Schaeffer considers the purpose of the new approach to the perception of acousmatic works to train in the reduced listening skill, which can be developed in the same way as in traditional solfeggio the skills of pitch perception are trained.