This article seek to highlight the aspects — explicit or implicit — that indicate the close attention paid by much American musicology of this century to the phenomenological level of musical events or, more generally, of the sound event. Starting from general considerations on American music and some of its protagonists, the article focuses on Elliott Carter, on his poetics, and on his theories expressed in his writings.Carter's compositional choices and his consciousness of the intrinsic complexity they assume theoretically provide a starting point for a phenomenological study of many aspects of compositional experience: from consideration of instrumental language with its structural phenomenological (and historical) implications, to more global evaluation of the centrality of temporal and rhythmic subjects.Carter's music corresponds to the theories of many American phenomenologists of music. This also proves the community of interests evident in United States both in music and phenomenological theories.