Analysis of Musical Practices

The Musical Practices Analysis team conducts interdisciplinary research on the world of music—from production (composition, improvisation, performance) to reception (listening, concerts, criticism, scientific and technical discourse), including the various technical objects that shape it (instruments, recordings, algorithms).

Concert interactif, avec l’Ensemble ]h[iatus sur des pièces composées par Sébastien Roux et Clément Canonne, Espace de projection, Ircam, 2026

To this end, the team develops an approach that is at once empirical (drawing on tools from both the social and cognitive sciences), integrative (linking musical objects, practices, and discourses to broader theoretical questions), and contextual (considering practices as dynamic, socially situated complexities).

The team’s work is disseminated through publications and conferences across a range of relevant academic communities (musicology, history, philosophy, aesthetics, cognitive science, sociology, genetic criticism, anthropology, and science and technology studies). It also takes other forms of dissemination, including documentary short films, university teaching and outreach to wider audiences, software development, lecture-performances, recordings, and more.

Main Research Themes

Analysis of individual and collective creative processes
Sound art and sound poetry
Musical cognition
Improvisation
History of science and technology in relation to music and sound (20th–21st centuries)
History and aesthetics of music since 1945
Philosophy of generative musical AI
Practice-based research (research-creation)