Meanings
- uncountableMusic created by taking natural or non-musical (non-instrumental/non-singing) sounds and combining them into, or as, a musical composition.
French leadership in found literature has shifted to found music, musique concrete, in which natural sounds are introduced into musical compositions, often to the exclusion of traditional instrumentation.
2005, John Robert Colombo, All the poems of John Robert Colombo2 more examples
Undaunted, Quinn has just finished a movie on stone carving in collaboration with the composer Roger Doyle, who specialises in found music. "I wanted to define prosaic images with strange and unusual sounds."
1995, Ciaran Carty, Confessions of a Sewer Rat: A Personal History of Censorship & the Irish Cinema, →ISBNIt was nearly two decades since the composer had attended Peggy's New York parties and been awed by the stature of her guests. Now he was becoming eminent in his own right, his Duchamp-inspired experiments in found music and his signature silent score 4' 33" gaining recognition as milestone achievements of the international avant-garde.
2017, Judith Mackrell, The Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in Venice: The Stories of Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse and Peggy Guggenheim, Thames & Hudson, →ISBN
Cite this entry
found music. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/found%20music
“found music.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/found%20music. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “found music,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/found%20music.
Source: found music on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.