From Silence to Form: An Exposition of Ambient Sound Reontologized through Post-Cagean Analysis

Stuart Slater

Exposition

From Silence to Form: An Exposition of Ambient Sound Reontologized through Post-Cagean Analysis (2025)

Stuart Slater

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About this exposition

Abstract This exposition investigates musically framed silence by extracting and analyzing auditory data and proposing new analytical strategies to deepen engagement with silence as a compositional element. It reontologizes ambient sound as capable of bearing musical and narrative significance. The study centres on Cageance (accessible at https://cageance.webflow.io)¹, the author’s web-based international collaboration extending John Cage’s 4′33″, exploring how chance-generated environmental sound may function ecologically, musically, and narratively. Using a Cageance performance recorded in Portugal as a case study, the research applies a multimodal analytical framework combining Schaferian soundscape theory, conventional musical analysis (including Schenkerian reduction), and dramatic analysis. Visual mapping methods classify sounds into soundmarks, signals, keynotes, and ecological categories (biophony, geophony, anthrophony), while revealing emergent musical and dramaturgical properties within the soundscape. The study proposes new notational and analytical approaches for non-composed sound, positioning silence not as absence, but as a generative site for compositional and narrative inquiry. These findings contribute to ongoing discourse in sound studies, ecological musicology, and practice-as-research methodologies. ¹ The Cageance platform functions best on tablet or desktop devices; headphones are recommended.

type	research exposition
keywords	Cagean silence, Cagean Silence, Ambient sound, Soundscape ecology, Dramatic analysis, Schenkerian reduction, Chance operations, Artistic research, The Cageance Project
date	29/05/2025
published	10/10/2025
last modified	10/10/2025
status	published
affiliation	Canterbury Christ Church University
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	CC BY-NC-ND
language	British English
url	https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/3722031/3722032
doi	https://doi.org/10.22501/rc.3722031
published in	Research Catalogue
external link	https://cageance.webflow.io/

Copyrights

name	Video: Cageance Portugal (Angela Gomes, Keys)
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
usages	video

name	Figure 1
copyright	David Sonnenschein
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Figure 2
copyright	Zhiwei Deng
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 3
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Image 1. Cageance Thumbnail
copyright	Cage photo Paul Bergen. Website and image Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 4
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 5
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 6
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 7
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 8
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 9
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 10
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 11
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 12
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 13
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 14
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 15
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Figure 16
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Appendix 1
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Appendix 2
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Appendix 3
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Appendix 4
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Appendix 5
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Appendix 6
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
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name	Image 3. Cageance Score
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Image 2. Cageance Pairing
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Image 4. Cageance Directions
copyright	Stuart Slater
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

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From Silence to Form: An Exposition of Ambient Sound Reontologized through Post-Cagean Analysis (2025)

Copyrights