The following is an incomplete list of experimental music festivals, which encapsulates

music festivals A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

focused on

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

. Experimental music is a compositional tradition that arose in the mid-20th century, particularly in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, of music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. The Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète (GRMC), under the leadership of

Pierre Schaeffer Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer (English pronunciation: , ; 14 August 1910 – 19 August 1995) was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist, acoustician and founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC). His inno ...

, organized the First International Decade of Experimental Music between 8 and 18 June 1953, and the phrase was used by musician

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

as early as 1955. Afterwards saw the development of specific

experimental musical instrument An experimental musical instrument (or custom-made instrument) is a musical instrument that modifies or extends an existing instrument or class of instruments, or defines or creates a new class of instrument. Some are created through simple modif ...

s, which were featured at various music festivals.

Musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic ...

is an experimental form of

electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a Music genre, genre of Western art music in which composers use recording technology and audio signal processing to manipulate the timbres of Acoustics, acoustic sounds in the creation of pieces of music. It originated a ...

, and

free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any general rules, instead following the intuition of its performers. The term can refer to both a technique—employed by any musician in any genre—and as a recognizable genre of ...

free music Free music or libre music is music that, like free software, can freely be copied, distributed and modified for any purpose. Thus free music is either in the public domain or licensed under a free license by the artist or copyright holder them ...

improvised music Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous ...

without any rules beyond the taste or inclination of the musician(s) involved.Smith Brindle, Reginald. 1987. ''The New Music: The Avant-Garde Since 1945'', second edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. (cloth) (pbk.)

Related lists and categories

The following lists have some or total overlap: *

List of music festivals A list of music festivals around the world. A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, ...

List of electronic music festivals The following is an incomplete list of music festivals that feature electronic music, which encapsulates music featuring electronic instruments such as electric guitars and keyboards, as well as recent genres such as electronic dance music (E ...

The following categories are related: * :Experimental music festivals *

Music festivals A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

* Contemporary classical festivals * Electroacoustic festivals *

Electronic music festivals The following is an incomplete list of music festivals that feature electronic music, which encapsulates music featuring electronic instruments such as electric guitars and Keyboard instrument, keyboards, as well as recent genres such as electr ...

Festivals

* Bang on a Can Festival *

Berlin Atonal Berlin Atonal is an annual festival for sonic and visual art in two distinct stages. It first took place between 1982 and 1990, relaunching in 2013 under new direction and continuing to the present day. The festival presents contemporary, interdi ...

Big Ears Festival The Big Ears Festival is an annual music festival in Knoxville, Tennessee. The 2009, 2010 and 2014-2019 editions were produced by AC Entertainment. The festival incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2016 and has been independent ...

CTM Festival The annual CTM Festival (from 1999 to 2011 called club transmediale) is a music and visual arts event held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1999, the festival originally focused on electronic music, but has since evolved to cover a wide range of gen ...

Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville The Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville () is an annual international music festival held in Victoriaville, Quebec that showcases contemporary music. The festival is known for its small scale (usually no more than 20 perfo ...

GOGBOT The GOGBOT Festival is an annual four-day festival in Enschede, Netherlands. It is organized by ''Planetart'', a local group of artists, and was first organized in 2004. The festival revolves around multimedia, art, music, and technology ...

* Hamselyt * High Desert Soundings *

High Zero High Zero is an annual festival, beginning in 1999, of Experimental Free Improvised Music in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is hosted by the Red Room Collective, a volunteer group that sponsors weekly concerts in improvised music and exper ...

* How to Destroy the Universe festival *

Le Guess Who? Le Guess Who? is a Dutch music festival featuring different music genres: from avant-garde, jazz, hip hop, electronic, experimental, noise rock, indie rock, world music and others. This festival was founded by Bob van Heur and Johan Gijsen. It ...

Music Biennale Zagreb Music Biennale Zagreb (, MBZ) is an international festival of contemporary classical music, contemporary music in Zagreb, Croatia, organized by the Croatian Composers' Society. The wikt:biennale, Biennale, founded by Milko Kelemen and held every s ...

MUTEK MUTEK is a Montreal-based festival dedicated to the promotion of electronic music and the digital arts. Its central platform is an annual six-day event in Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and ...

New Interfaces for Musical Expression New Interfaces for Musical Expression, also known as NIME, is an international conference dedicated to scientific research on the development of new technologies and their role in musical expression and artistic performance. History The confer ...

New Music America New Music America was a nomadic American festival (held in Montreal during its last year) showcasing at its origins New York City's Downtown Music, but growing into one of the largest new music festivals ever held in North America, all in an attem ...

Noise Fest Noise Fest was an influential festival of no wave noise music performances curated by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth at the New York City art space White Columns. It ran from June 16th to June 24th, 1981. Sonic Youth made their first live appear ...

* Noisefest *

Norbergfestival Norbergfestival is a Scandinavian electronic and experimental music festival held in Norberg, Västmanland, Sweden. The festival was started in 1999 by Michael Østerz Christiansen and Dag Celsing. The event attracts people of different ages and ...

* NWEAMO * Murf/Murw Festival * Okuden Music *

Olympia Experimental Music Festival The Olympia Experimental Music Festival, also known for a time as The Olympia Festival of Experimental Musics,Christopher DelaurentiClassical, Jazz, & Avant: Experimental Music Festival '' The Stranger'', June 26 – July 2, 2003 issue. Accessed ...

OM Festival The OM Festival was a community-based summer solstice festival that ran annually in southern Ontario from 1998 to 2004. The festival, organized by Sumkidz (now Suma), primarily featured electronic music as well as dance, workshops, art, and other ...

* Other Minds * Psych Tent *

TodaysArt TodaysArt is the annual international festival for Art, Music and Technology in The Hague, Netherlands that takes place in the end of September. It is also the name of the cultural production agency ''TodaysArt (Stichting The Generator)'' that p ...

Unsound Festival Unsound Festival, also known as Unsound, is an annual music festival that takes place in Kraków, Poland, dealing with evolving and mutating forms of music, as well as related visual arts. Apart from the main festival, Unsound regularly takes plac ...

Warsaw Autumn Warsaw Autumn () is the largest international Polish festival of contemporary music. It was established in 1956 by two composers, Tadeusz Baird and Kazimierz Serocki, and officially established by the Head Board of the Polish Composers' Union ...

* Vendrebruit 13

References

{{Experimental music Experimental music festivals

Experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

Exper

Related lists and categories

Festivals

See also

References