Fines de la contabilidad pú- pú-blica

Hitherto, energy has been seen as the capacity of matter to do work. Rupert Sheldrake elaborates:

“In the technical sense of physics, energy is the property of a system that is a measure of its capacity for doing work. […] Energy can be potential or kinetic, and it takes a variety of forms: electrical, thermal, chemical, nuclear, radiant and mechanical” (Sheldrake, 2006).

Indo-Tibetan tradition, as illustrated by Tarab Tulku Rinpoche XI⁵⁷ suggests a parallel

57 Tarab Tulku Rinpoche XI, (1934– 2004) was a Tibetan scholar and lama, the eleventh incarnation of the line of

between the universe’s Matter-Energy continuum and the interdependent physical and psychological systems inherent in the human being. They are manifested in three interconnecting continua:

Figure 2-1. Three interconnecting continua as seen by Tarab Tulku Rinpoche ⁵⁸

“In accordance with Tibetan metaphysics matter emerges from […] ‘energy’ […] such that energy is seen as both the basis of matter, and is continuously pervading matter. From this energy resource, all forms arise and return […] in a continuous movement of birth, existence, and death […]. […] we can understand the interconnection between body and mind as well as subject and object through this interrelatedness of matter and energy. Our solid bodies are inseparable from the basic energy of ourselves from which also mind develops […]”⁵⁹

Tarab Tulku. Tarab Tulku pursued his studies at the Drepung Monastic University in Tibet, where he completed the Lharampa Geshe degree (Ph.D. in Buddhist philosophy and psychology). His research, Science of Mind, based on the extraction of universal principles from the Sutras and Tantras, tenets of ancient Indo-Tibetan knowledge, strove to render these concepts accessible for modern society. This part of his research is published, amongst others, in his book, Unity in Diversity, (Tarab Tulku’stranslation of Einheit in der Vielfalt) (Tarab Institute, 2010).

58 (Tarab Institute, 2010).

59 (Tarab Institute, 2010). Tarab Tulku developed these concepts, focusing on their interrelatedness, which is referred to as Tendrel in Indo-Tibetan tradition. He presented his research at the International Congress of Science and the Humanities: Tendrel – Unity in Duality Conference, in Munich, Germany, October 2002 and later developed it in Einheit in der Vielfalt. (Tarab Institute, 2010).

If we transpose these principles of the Matter-Energy continuum from a universal level to a human level, part of the ‘energy resource’ native to a human being contains the potential for all forms of expression. This basis for expressive potential can be extended to the creation of gesture in acousmatic sound, where the unfolding of energy into a tangible level concerns the aural trace left by the morphogenesis of gesture.⁶⁰ Further, if we consider that energy pervades all conceivable forms, the possibilities for gesture are not limited to the articulation of existing sounding and non-sounding models, gesture being the object: they are governed by the subject, in this case, the composer’s imagination, imagination being understood as an expression of the mind. Seen from this perspective, the energetic perspective, accessed through the subject, allows gesture to be created as an unbridled expression of the imagination, thus facilitating an unhindered approach for the transfer of the composer’s musical and extra-musical ideas onto the acousmatic canvas.

In referring to the unfolding of energy into a tangible level it is necessary to acknowledge a bifurcation in the expression of energy, as these two embodiments influence the aural trace in opposite ways: ‘forward-moving’ (otherwise known as temporal or linear) and ‘repetitive’ (most often cast in an atemporal or non-linear gestural mould). The term, forward-moving, signifies the unfolding of energy in such a way that gesture develops through time. Conversely, the term, repetitive, denotes the unfolding of energy in a manner that impedes gestural development through time.

Forward-moving or repetitive expressions of energy and their embodiments may take any shape. For example, environmental or studio-based source recordings are initial sonic imprints that contain various energetic expressions, many of which may assume the form of forward-moving gesture. An equal variety of these imprints contain energetic expressions taking the form of repetitive gesture. Further, gesture can be transformed with the aid of digital signal processing techniques that act on its corresponding aural trace. Finally, composers may invent gestures from their personal imagination. In each instance, the energy materialises into a gestural form through the composer, as the subject forms the object.

With gestural expression thus clarified as the domain of the composer’s imagination, we may now examine the morphogenesis of its various forms through their corresponding aural traces. The acousmatic composer creates and works with gesture through the tangibility of its aural trace. Figure 2-2 exhibits specific gesture-types viewed through the Matter-Energy continuum from the perspective of matter to

60 Although an aural trace is a result of a physical gesture, for discursive purposes, the term, gesture, will refer to a sounding gesture.

energy. The materiality of the source recording relates to ‘matter’ and the revised spectromorphological qualities inherent in a meta-sound⁶¹relate to ‘energy’. The six categories illustrate an evolution from a type of gestural expression that translates into dense and matter-oriented spectromorphologies frequently associated with source recordings, to expressions where matter is thinned out, yielding to energy. The latter spawn more intangible and energy-oriented spectromorphologies associated with transformed, synthesised, and meta-sounds.

Figure 2-2. Gesture seen through the Matter-Energy continuum

2.2.2 Terminology

We have seen how the unfolding of energy into a tangible level refers to the aural trace left by the morphogenesis of gesture. The aural trace is the focus of analysis regardless of its form. However, for the purpose of this thesis, I shall refer to the aural trace in

61 Meta-sounds are forms constructed and perceived on an environmental scale. They will be discussed in 2.2.3.

specific terms depending on the discussion. These terms include source recording, sound, sounding gesture, spectromorphology, transformation, sound-object, and meta-sound, when the discussion centres on a single sound. When a topic centres on more extensive topologies, the terms include ‘meta-environment’, sound world, or sounding flow. In this way, the terminology shifts to address audible pertinences and/or context.