Timbre

This seminar takes as its starting point a collection of commonplace complaints in music studies around timbre: timbre is misunderstood; it is difficult to define; it is a woefully understudied musical parameter; it lacks a standardized theory and vocabulary; it needs more systematic analysis. At the same time, with the recent publication of books, edited volumes, and special issues devoted to timbre, people have also begun to speak of timbre studies as an emerging, discrete subfield. This seminar delves into this diverse literature in order to think critically about the concept of timbre and the struggles to understand it.