Music, New Media and the Archive

A timely investigation, as music archives globally are challenged by researching, conserving, and creatively engaging with the new media of their collections, this book provides opportunities to assess the impact of the archive on our understanding of music and new media through both historical and contemporary approaches. This book explores the representation and application of music and new media in the archive. Its case studies interrogate twentieth and twenty-first-century musical engagements with new media, ranging from notation, recording, and broadcast technologies to new analogue and electronic instruments, exploratory sound making techniques, and experimental compositional practice. The chapters each consider how these developments are reflected or preserved in documentary sources, or conversely, how archived materials relating to music and sound might be effectively combined with innovations in practice today. A timely investigation, as music archives globally are challenged by researching, conserving, and creatively engaging with the new media of their collections, this book provides opportunities to assess the impact of the archive on our understanding of music and new media through both historical and contemporary approaches. Sarah Kirby is a musicologist and a research fellow at the Grainger Museum, University of Melbourne. Her work explores Australian and British music history and music in museum contexts. She is the associate editor of Musicology Australia, and in 2023 received the Australian Academy of the Humanities’ McCredie Musicological Award. This book explores the representation and application of music and new media in the archive. Its case studies interrogate twentieth and twenty-first-century musical engagements with new media, ranging from notation, recording, and broadcast technologies to new analogue and electronic instruments, exploratory sound making techniques, and experimental compositional practice. The chapters each consider how these developments are reflected or preserved in documentary sources, or conversely, how archived materials relating to music and sound might be effectively combined with innovations in practice today. A timely investigation, as music archives globally are challenged by researching, conserving, and creatively engaging with the new media of their collections, this book provides opportunities to assess the impact of the archive on our understanding of music and new media through both historical and contemporary approaches.