Abstract
In this paper I make a study of B. Eno's Ambient Music by examining its conceptual and methodological relationship with experimental music. In particular, I approach Discreet Music (1975), which could be regarded as the incipient work of Ambient Music, through (1) a comparison of Eno's idea of hearing music as part of the ambience of the environment with E. Satie's "furniture music" ; Satie is "the only pre-experimental composer whose work is more than merely relevant..." (Nyman) ; (2) studying the relationship between the methodology of the Tape Delay System in Discreet Music and J. Cage's "rhythmic structure"-Cage belonging to the first generation of experimental music-and (3) the examination of the influence of S. Reich's early tape music It's Gonna Rain (1965) and of his methodological essay, Music as a Gradual Process (1968) ; Reich is typical of the composers of the post-Cage generation. Through the discussions in this paper, I would like to clarify what Ambient Music is, and show how I have arrived at the interpretation of it as "music as perceived sound".
