Collins, Ch. 1: Introduction

A glimpse of several instruments for electronic music

First mechanical computer, Babbage’s difference engine

 

An example of composers working in electronic and acoustic music:

• Paul Lanksy, Mild und Leise (1976)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZDxMb4nago

• Paul Lansky, Hop (1993)

• Paul Lansky, Idle Chatter (1994)

• Paul Lansky, Threads (2005)

 

The continuum between rhythm and pitch

 

Timbre

 

Rhythm, pitch, timbre, and space together in one gesture in Karlheinz Stockhousen, Kontakte (1958)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1Psx24n3rM&feature=youtu.be&t=30m41s

 

Formal structure

 

Sound objects:

• Beethoven, Symphony No. 5, 1st mvt. (1804)

 

• Trevor Wishart, Tongues of Fire (1993)

https://electrotheque.com/oeuvre/29276

 

Spectrogram/sonogram: Aphex Twin, “ΔMi−1 = −αΣn=1NDi[n][Σj∈C[i]Fji[n − 1] +Fexti[n−1]]” (1999)

Notation: György Ligeti, Artikulation (1958; listening score created by Rainer Wehinger in 1970)

Jarre, Music for Supermarkets (1983)

 

Early digital audio: Max Mathews’s 1961 realization of “Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)” (written by Harry Dacre in 1892)

 

Moog synthesizer, early mass-produced synthesizer (analog)

 

Yamaha DX7, early mass-produced digital synthesizer

 

Ubu Web for hard-to-find avant garde art

http://ubu.com/sound/electronic.html