Writing
The Slippery Ground of Timbre: A Human-Centered Journey from Sound to Meaning
1 September 2025
Timbre as the category defined by what it is not — the most fundamental determinant of a sound's identity and the one with no settled definition.
Understanding timbre through a centralist mindset is nearly impossible; the concept demands a multilayered approach that moves from branch to branch. Timbre is routinely defined as everything beyond the known properties of sound — pitch, depth, duration — a category understood largely through what it is not. That it has never achieved a common definition, while remaining the most fundamental characteristic determining a sound’s identity, makes it a paradox in itself.
Written at Bowling Green State University, September 2025.