Music 680: Electronics in Performance
Fall 2004
Lecture 1: September 13, 2004
disclaimer about the shameless stereotyping of "europe" and "america"
conceptual / historical overview of the genre
tape and fixed-medium works
in america: Varese & Cage
electronics as an expanded orchestrational resource
"I believe that the use of noise to make music will continue and increase until we reach a music produced through the aid of electrical instruments which will make available
for musical purposes any and all sounds that can be heard. Photoelectric, film, and
mechanical mediums for the synthetic production of music will be explored.
Whereas, in the past, the point of disagreement has been between dissonance and
consonance, it will be, in the immediate future, between noise and so-called musical
sounds."
from "Credo: The Future of Music," John Cage, 1937 (reprinted in Silence)
Cage / Imaginary Landscape no. 1 (1939) for piano & percussion with turntables
Varese / Deserts (1954) orchestra with tape
in europe: Stockhausen & Nono
as an expanded mirror-image of the instrumental resources
drive towards systemization: formulas to relate rhythm, pitch, & timbre
as the "other," the artificial
Stockhausen / Kontakte (1958-60) for piano & percussion with tape
Berio / Laborintus II (1965) for singers, chorus, ensemble, reciter and tape
Reynolds / Ariadne's Thread (1994) for string quartet and tape
as a representation of the "real," the political, or the dramatic
relationship to certain aspects of the GRM / acousmatic tradition in France (but not others)
Nono / La fabbrica illuminata (1964) for soprano with tape
Xenakis / Kraanerg for ensemble with tape
Nono / ...sofferte onde serene... (1975) for piano with tape
live-electronic works
in europe: Stockhausen
again as pioneer...
electronics as a way to extend conventional instrumental technique
thinking of terms of pitches and timbres
Stockhausen / Mikrophonie I (1964) for tam-tam and six performers
Stockhausen / Mantra (1970) for piano duo
Ferneyhough / Time and Motion Study II (1976) for cello and electronics
in america: Cage & Tudor
electronics as a way beyond instrumental, compositional, and aesthetic clichs
thinking in terms of noise
Cage / Electronic Music for Piano (1964) for piano with electronics
Tudor / Pulsers (1976) variable; in recording, violin with electronics
Hunt / Cantegral Segment 18.17 (1977) for voice with electronics
in europe: IRCAM & the Strobel-Stiftung (Freiburg)
computers as a way beyond the limitations of tape / analog techniques
[and the European model of composers working with technical assistants]
electronics as a means for transforming instruments, rather than mirroring them
electronics as a way to make spatialization a compositional determinant
electronics as a stimulus to acoustic composition; spectralism
Boulez / Repons (1984) six soloists & ensemble with electronics
Harvey / Advaya (1994) for cello with electronics
Nono / Omaggio a Gyrgy Kurtg (1986) alto, flute, clarinet, tuba, with electronics
Schneller / Aqua vit (1999) for eight instruments
in america: the present day
electronics facilitating improvisation
the rise of the laptop and the diminishing role of the computer music center
composing as instrument-building / software design and vice-versa
cross-pollinations with jazz, rock, etc.
Nick Didkovsky / I Kick My Hand (1993) for electric guitar with delay
Matt Ingalls / CLAIRE (1999) for clarinet with computer improvisor
Jake Rodriguez / Parsnip Maker (2000) for voice with electronics
Curtis Bahn / mechanique (2000) for sensor bass and electronics
introduction to Pd
download: crca.ucsd.edu/~msp
free, open-source, cross-platform
objects, messages, number boxes, comments
bang as a special case of messages
control and signal rates: ~ objects
dac~ and adc~
contextual help, documentation, audio/midi setup, tutorial