Continuities and discontinuities in thought, infrastructure and organisation in UK ‘electroacoustic’ music since 1975: observations, entanglements and reasons for optimism

Exploring changes in electroacoustic music in the UK from 1975 onwards, this chapter focuses on the dynamic interplay between musical practices and changing social, institutional, and technological infrastructures. These changes are traced and interrogated through the author’s experiences at the University of East Anglia and Queen’s University Belfast, set against the background of the shift from analogue to digital technologies, and their entanglement in the practices of composition and performance. The chapter discusses how changes in technological infrastructure are implicated in a move from individual-centric modernist practices to more communal and improvisational approaches. The significance of spectromorphology and the institutionalisation of sound diffusion systems in shaping electroacoustic music is analysed, along with a reflection on how such foundations are now being re-evaluated in the light of an increasing recognition of the contribution of social context and community in contemporary musical practices. The chapter proposes that better understanding these historical practices and their entanglements with technology can offer valuable insights for current and future musical endeavours.