History and Practice

of Electronic Music
Instruments, Technology, Organizations, Composers, Performers,
Schools of Thought

Music + Technology

A sidenote before we start.

Music has always been tied to technology!

From the development of early instruments to the latest in DSP

processing!

There is a balance between

inventor/performer/composer with each new
invention
Each respective creator has a role in the evolution
of music and its technology

The Telharmonium

Thaddeus Cahill (18671934)

Father of Muzak

Aka: Dynamophone

Huge

Bigger than your living

room!

Transmitted through
telephone lines

Complete failure!

Demise brought on by
advent of radio

Triggered birth of
electronic music

The Telharmonium

Patented in 1897
Music-generation:

Pitch shafts, or axles, which were mounted tone

wheels that were made of metal and notched
Used multiple tone wheels per pitch to make
multiple overtones per pitch to create a warm sound

Two parts

Keyboard console
Machinery in a different room

The Telharmonium
Absolutely massive!

12 pitch shafts, 30 feet each!

2,000 switches!
200 tons!

Moving it required 30 railroad cars

Used an enormous amount of power

The power grid could not grow exponentially

Pressing more key would split available power and reduce the
volume on each note

The Telharmonium
Concerts began in NY in 1906
Initially successful, then amazingly

unsuccessful

It was too expensive to operate

Not portable
Run concerts over phone lines
People just lost interest

Final Concert in 1908

No known recordings

The Telharmonium

The Theremin

1917 (1920)

Leon Theremin

Protruding metal
antennae = pitch

Metal loop = volume

Monophonic
continuous tone

Fixed Timbre

The Theremin

Leon Theremin (1896-1993)

(Russian name Lev Termen)

Important pioneer of electronic

music

1920s-moved to US

Patented Theremin

1938-kidnapped by Russians!

put in Siberian prison

Thought to be dead

Created first bug for tracking and

listening to people without their
knowledge

Later taught at Moscow

Conservatory

How Does it work?

Uses a method called Heterodyning

2 supersonic radio frequencies

Near in frequency

Mixed

The combination tones are heard

Tones that are the difference between the frequencies

F1+F2 combined with F1-F2 (sound familiar?)

Frequencies are mixed in the Theremin and output

Theremin

Unfortunately used mostly as novelty

People performed single-line literature that could be played

on a stringed instrument

John Cages early view:

When Theremin provided an instrument with genuinely
new possibilities, Thereminists did their utmost to
make the instrument sound like some old instrument,
giving it a sickeningly sweet vibrato, and performing
upon it, with difficulty, masterpieces from the past.
Although the instrument is capable of a wide variety of
sound qualities, obtained by the turning of the dial,
Thereminists act as censors, giving the public those
sounds they think the public will like. We are shielded
from new sound experiences. -From Silence

Famous Performers

Theremin could play the instrument

Two virtuosic students

Clara Rockmore (1910-1998)

Played mostly rep for other instruments
Remembered at the greatest master
Lucie Bigelow Rosen (1890-1968)
Pioneer of new music
Explore new territories
Commissioned several composers

Many others could play the Theremin, but not with the skill
and aptitude of Rockmore and Rosen

Theremins still make their way into film soundtracks and

popular music today!

The Ondes Martenot

1928

Maurice Martenot

First successful electronic

instrument

(1898-

1980)
Influenced by Theremin

Still used today!

Early-string attached to
finger ring

Later- keyboard added

Expression key to change

timbre

The Ondes Martenot

Used by many

composers! (>300)

Messiaen
Varese
Milhaud
Honegger
Peringer
Messiaen Turangalila
Symphony
(excerpt)

The Ondes Martenot

Ondes Martenot
A few videos to check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy9UBjrU

jwo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpdK-kS

W4KA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh6Fk0g

LFog

First Generation of
EA Composition
France, Germany, Italy, United States

Musique Concrte

Construction of music using:

Sound recording tools

Natural sounds
Electronic signals
Instrumental sounds

1948 - France (Paris)

Pierre Schaeffer

Radio engineer, broadcaster, writer, and biographer

Pierre Henry

Classically trained composer

Musique Concrte

Different approach from traditional composing.

Works directly with the sound material

Rather than with a score

The material preceded the structure

Not all pieces were written this way, but its the
approach Schaeffer used to develop his aesthetic ideas

LObjet Sonore

Means the sound object

Developed by Schaeffer and Abraham Moles (192292)
Moles view on musical material,

separable in experiments from the continuity of

perception

Sound object is sound that exists apart from

human perception.

Music becomes a sequence of sound objects in

musique concrete
3 characteristics; amplitude, frequency, time

RTF
Radiodiffusion-Television Franais

Schaeffer worked in the Studio dEssai of the

Radiodiffusion Nationale (he developed in 1943)

Devoted to experiments in radio production and

musical acoustics

Had a wealth of radio broadcasting equipment

Filters, microphones, disc-cutting lathes, reverb

chamber, portable recording, SFX library

Pierre Schaeffer

Etude aux Chemins de

Fer (1948)

First EA piece
Uses turntables
From tudes de Bruits
Studies of noise

Significance to electronic
music:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Composing was
realized through
technological means
Any manner of
sounds were used
Could be replayed
identically over and
over
Presentation of the
work required no
performers

RTF Music

Symphonie pour un homme seul (1949-50)

Symphony for a Man Alone

First major collaboration between Schaeffer and Henry

12-Movements

Early use of turntables for composition and not just for

record playback

Based on two categories of sounds:

Human sounds (breathing, vocal fragments, shouting, humming

whistling)
Non-Human sounds (foot stomping, knocking, percussion,
prepared piano, orchestral instruments)

GRM

Groupe de Recherches
Musicales

Originally called GRMC

(musique concrte),
1951

Henry resigned and

Schaeffer renamed it
GRM in 1958

Originators (GRM):

Pierre Schaeffer
Iannis Xenakis
Francois Bayle
Luc Ferrari

SidenoteSchaeffer

Never was comfortable as a composer:

I fought like a demon throughout all the years of discovery and exploration in
musique concrte. I fought against electronic music [electronische musik,
germany], which was another approach, a systemic approach, when I
preferred an experimental approach actually working directly, empirically with
the sound. But at the same time, as I defended the music I was working on, I
was personally horrified at what I was doingI was deeply unhappy at what I
was doing. I was happy at overcoming great difficulties-my first difficulties
with the turntables when I was working on Symphonie pour un homme seul
that was good work, I did what I set out to doBut each time I was to
experience the disappointment of not arriving at music. I couldnt get to
music, what I call music. I think of myself as an explorer struggling to find a
way through the far north, but I wasnt finding a way through.

- from Interview with Pierre Schaeffer

Elektronische Musik

1951 - Germany (Cologne)

Herbert Eimert

Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

Electronically-generated sounds

(Uses oscillators, amplifiers, etc.)

Extension of serialism

WDR vs. RTF

There was animosity between the Germans and the

French studios

The roots of dislike was formed by Schaeffer

we liberated ourselves politically, but music was still

under an occupying foreign power, the music of the Vienna
School.

The Germans had little respect for musique concrte,

which they saw as fashionable and surrealistic.

Eimerts thoughts on French music was that they were any

incidental manipulations or distortions haphazardly put
together for radio, film or theater music.

Similarities

Both sides of the line were aware of the importance

of electronic music, not as novelty, but as a part of
the future of music.

A split from the traditional, and a different view of what music

is, questions we still explore today

Eimert said it best:

Electronic music is, and remains, part of our music and is a

great deal more than mere technology. But the fact that it
cannot be expected either to take over or imitate the functions
of traditional music is clearly shown by the unequivocal
difference of its material from that of traditional music. We
prefer to see its possibilities as the potentialities of sound
itself.
-from die Reihe (1955)

Karlheinz Stockhausen
Gesang der Junglinge
(1956)

Song of the Youths

Idea of unifying vocal
sounds and electronically
produced sounds
Sung sounds - appear to
be electronic; and
electronic to be sung
Composed for 5 groups
of loudspeakers to be
distributed in space
around listeners (later
changed to 4 channels)

WDR

For as much as they were divided aesthetically,

the audio results of WDR were often

indistinguishable from RTF

Even as early at 1952

Other notable composers:

Henri Pousseur

Gyorgi Ligeti

Mauricio Kagel

Studio de Fonologia

The Italians

1955

Milan

Started by:

Luciano Berio
Bruno Maderna

Maderna and Berio both

studied in Germany at
Darmstadt with
Stockhausen and Boulez
(both of whome are
associated with WDR
and GRM)

The Italians
Radio Audizioni Italiane (RAI)

Italian public broadcasting network

Started the Studio di Fonologia Musicale

One of the best-equipped studios in Europe for many

years

Did not align themselves aesthetically with the

French or Germans, as Berio states:

Bruno and I immediately agreed that our work should

not be directed in a systematic way, either toward
recording acoustic sounds or toward a systematic
serialism based on discrete pitches.

Known also for using speech as sound material

Luciano Berio

Thema Omaggio a Joyce (1958)

Based on beginning of Ch. XI of James Joyces

Ulysses (so-called siren chapter)

Idea was to create continuity between music and

literature, to make possible and imperceptible
transition from the one to the other.

Recorded material with electronic sounds

But what about the USA?

Music in the US during the 1950s was neither organized or

institutional

Americas rugged individualism was apparent in the way

electronic music developed

US composers did not adhere to a school of thought in their

aesthetics

Viewed with amusement the aesthetic wars in France and Germany

France rooted in experimentation and freedom of thought

Germany rooted in systemization and extremely calculated music

The Barrons

Louis (1920-89) and Bebe Barron (b.1927) were

two of the first electronic composers in the US

Heavenly Menagerie (1950)

First electronic piece in US, magnetic tape

We had to earn a living somehow so we opened a recording

studio that catered to the avant-garde. We had some pretty
good equipment, considering. A lot of it we built ourselves

Located in NYC

Barrons

Had a lot of gear, some of it unorthodox

Louis did circuitry design, Bebe composing and production

Worked with influential NYC composers:

John Cage
David Tudor
Earle Brown
Morton Feldman
Christian Wolff

1951, Cage started Project of Music for Magnetic Tape

Most well known for composing score to Forbidden Planet (1956)

First soundtrack to be entirely composed with electronic

instruments

Sound effects and music were amazing for the time

When the spacecraft landed on Altair IV the crowd erupted in applause.

NY School

The NY school are a collective of composers,

artists, etc. who were on the edge of the US avantgarde.

They contributed not only to electronic music, but

American music and experimentalism

John Cage is the most well-known composer from

this group

His ideas were revolutionary, thought-provoking, and on

the edge of music thought at the time

NY Schools Music
Heres a short list of the NY schools electronic

output in the 1950s

John Cage:

Imaginary Landscape #1 (1939)

Williams Mix (1952) - with David Tudor

Imaginary Landscape #5 (1952) - w/Tudor

Fonatana Mix

Earle Brown:

Octet I (1953)

Morton Feldman (SUNY Buffalo)

Intersection (1953)

Christian Wolff (SUNY Buffalo)

For Magnetic Tape (1953)

Columbia-Princeton
Studios

1959

Columbia-Princeton
Studios
Columbia Composers:

Vladimir Usschevsky (1900-96)

Otto Luening (1911-90)

Princeton Composers:

Milton Babbitt (b. 1916)

Mario Davidovsky (b. 1934)

Columbia started with tape manipulation

Had success as tape composers, using initially recorded

instruments to expand their sounds and create new
timbers

Luening and Ussachevsky

Became the US spokesmen for electronic music

Featured on television

Live appearance on NBCs Today show

After a few years of lecturing, demonstrating, and

performing, received Rockefeller grant and visited

the French and German studios, among more

Both were successful composers and researchers

in the early developments of electronic music

Columbia-Princeton Music

Milton Babbitt

Ussachevsky

Linear Contrasts (1958)

Ussachevsky and Luening

Ensembles for Synthesizer (1962-65)

Mathematics (1958)

Edgard Varese (French composer)

Desertes (INSERT DATE HERE)

Indiana University

Indiana University (Bloomington) had a prominent

electronic music studio in the early days of

American electronic music
Fred Fox was a key figure in the department
However, the electronic music research at IU was

headed primarily by Iannis Xenakis

And why is Xenakis important?

San Francisco Tape Music

Center
Started in 1960s
Home to composers:
Terry Riley
Morton Subotnik
Pauline Oliveros
Independent cooperative of musicians

Not funded by academia

IRCAM

Institut de Recherche et Coordination

Acoustique/Musique

Est. 1969, Paris

Pierre Boulez, director
Today a huge influence on computer music
Max/MSP and jMax were both developed there

Instruments, People,
Styles
Monumental technological advances in performances
Styles and genres of EA music
Key figures in the development of EA music

Columbia-Princeton

Ussachevsky and Luening were important figures in

American electronic music

Eventually they received a grant to do research in

Europe

Traveled to studios in Germany, France, Italy and many

others

Main idea was to find new advances in technology and

equipment. When they returned to America they found

this waiting for them

The RCA Mark II

Synthesizer

1958-59

First instrument developed in US

to use synthesis and sequencing.
Other instruments were manually
operated in real-time

Oscillators and noise generators

Operator gave instructions on

punch paper roll

Pitch, volume, duration,

timbre

Milton Babbitt was one of the

leading composers who used the
RCA Mark II

RCAMarkIISynthesizer
playsBlueSkies

The Moog Synthesizer

Robert Moog
1964
Began by making

Theremins!

Became more

common in pop
music

Beatles
Mick Jagger

Set a future

standard for the

analog synthesizer

Wendy Carlos

Wendy Carlos (formerly

Walter)

Used Moog Synths

Switched on Bach (1968)

Commercialization of
electronic music

Top-selling classical album

of the year

Switched on Bach
Well-Tempered Synthesizer
Digital Moonscapes

Semi-famous movie
scores:

A Clockwork Orange
Tron (the original). Not the

The Buchla
Synthesizer
Don Buchla -

designer

Built instruments for

live electronic music

and composing

Built the first analog

sequencers

Still in business --

mostly making MIDI

controllers

The Buchla
Synthesizer
Morton Subotnik
Silver Apples of

the Moon (1967)

1st composition

made specifically
for a record

The Wild Bull

(1968)

Buchla

Did not experience as much commercial success

as Moog.

But was able to remain independent during the synth

boom of the 70s and 80s

However, Moog liked the designs of Buchlas

synths and made attempts to capture the

portability of them into his own equipment.

Synclavier

Digital synthesizer,
polyphonic sampler,
sequencer/workstation

All-in-one unit!

1977-78: original design

Originated at Dartmouth
college through work with
Jon Appleton, Sydney
Alonso and Cameron Jones.

Operated entirely using FM

synthesis and was mostly
sold to universities

Synclavier II

1980: Synclavier II was introduced.

Had a keyboard interface, making it a performance tool as well

as a composition tool

Also introduced digital sampling system and recording memory.

Became popular for use in television and movies as well as music
recording studios

Synclavier II

Possibly the most influential piece of equipment in music and

recording history

Genesis, Chic Corea, Michael Jackson, Pat Metheny, Mr.

Mister, John McLaughlin, Mannheim Steamroller, Triumph,
Howard Shore, Stingand many more

Can be heard on the soundtracks of Apocalypse Now, the

Princess Bride, the X-files and the amazing Rocky IV

Frank Zappa was one of the most influential synclavier users

and one of the first people to own one of his own.

Jazz from Hell was an album that consisted of music made entirely
on a Synclavier II

MIDI

Transition from analog synths to computers in late

70s early 80s

No standardization for linking synths to computers

until.

1984!

With the introduction of the Musical Instrument Digital

Interface.

Represents the merging of analog and digital

domains!

MIDI beginnings

Many companies bickered as to how to

standardize

Roland, Oberhein, Sequential Circuits, Yamaha, Korg,

and Kawaii

All worked together to develop MIDI

Unleashed in August 1983

Conceived of with keyboards in mind

Limitations overcome throughout the years as

composers creatively adapted it

Through today

At this point in history we move to digital concepts

Electronic music branches out into a less organized and

easily definable schools.

Much of the electronic music produced from 1980 onward

is categorized not by where it is written, but whether or
not it is classified as fixed media, acousmatic, computer
music, live/interactive or multimedia

Spectralism is possibly the only definable school of

electronic composition, however it exists as a method of
acoustic composition as much as electronic composition

Acousmatic music

Music intended to be diffused through loudspeakers

Fixed media uses a fixed recording and is heard the same

way each time it is performed

The term goes back to Schaeffer and the early GRM

composers
Uses the idea of sound objects

emprentes Digitales is a record label that specializes

exclusively in releasing CDs by acousmatic composers
(primarily European and Canadian)
INSERT LINK TO WEBSITE HERE!

Computer Music

Max Mathews, The Father of Computer Music (19262011)

1958-59

Bell Labs

Computer programs generating sound materials

The MUSIC Series

MUSIC
MUSIC
MUSIC
MUSIC

I (1957)- Single voice, created a 17 sec. piece

II - 4 voices, wavetable synth
III - Even better
V (1969) - ran on FORTRAN computer language

Multi-platform so anyone could program with it

After V, called MUSIC N and many composers/programmers

developed other programs

A little smile for you

Bicycle Built for Two (1961)

One of the more famous moments in Bell Labs' synthetic

speech research was the sample created by John L. Kelly
in 1962, using an IBM 704 computer. Kelly's vocoder
synthesizer recreated the song "Bicycle Built for Two,"
with musical accompaniment from Max Mathews. Arthur
C. Clarke, then visiting friend and colleague John Pierce at
the Bell Labs Murray Hill facility, saw this remarkable
demonstration and later used it in the climactic scene of
his novel and screenplay for "2001: A Space Odyssey,"
where the HAL9000 computer sings this song as he is
disassembled by astronaut Dave Bowman.

Computer Music

Computer music is a term that generally applies to any music created

entirely by computers or software synthesizers.

Uses an array of software platforms:

Max/MSP

Open Music

Csound

Supercollider

nGen

Unix

Can be acousmatic/fixed media, live performance (with or without an

instrument), multimedia, installation, live coding, etc.

Live/Interactive

Live performers with electronics, in which the performers

control and manipulate the electronics

The electronics dont exist without the performers input!

Often includes a great deal of improvisation

Uses software programs such as Max/MSP, KIMA, CHUCK, and

PureData for live processing (but more on that in tech 3)

Interactive electronic music is computer music, but not all

computer music is classified as live/interactive EA music

Laptop Orchestras

Started at Princeton University: PLOrk!

Ensemble of composers, programmers, and tech enthusiasts

Everyone has a computer and omnidirectional speaker

Group play laptops using live processing/coding to create entirely

interactive and improvised computer music

Many exist worldwide

SLOrk Stanford Laptop orchestra

Tokyo, Moscow, Berlin, Seattle

Toshiba-funded virtual laptop orchestra

Jomenico one-time only show at SEAMUS 2004

Laptop orchestras

Not a new invention with PLOrk! Just a new

approach

PLOrk and SLOrk developed a new standardized

approach to live avant-garde computer music

Multimedia

Includes electronic music (fixed and interactive),

live performers, video, dancers, etc.

Multimedia is a kind of interdisciplinary field of art

in which multiple avenues of electronic/digital

media come together to form a single piece of
digital artwork.
Big Robot!

Dr. Lillios video piece

Spectralism

Movement pioneered by Gerard Grisey and his student Tristan Murail

Strong focus on timbre and instrument color

Composers use spectral analysis of sounds as a starting point for

composition.

Often uses altered tuning systems or out of tune chords to create

difference tones or for psychoacoustic effects

Prominent spectral composers:

Grisey (French)
Murail (French)
Philippe Leroux (French)
Philippe Manoury (French)
Josh Fineberg (American)
Georg Friederich Haas (German)

Pioneers of Electronic
Music
This is a short list of some accomplished/important

figures in electronic music

Mostly composers/innovators
Different aesthetics/philosophies of music

Edgard Varse

1883-1965
Very very very veryvery Experimental composer
Focused on timbre and rhythm

Coined the term organized sound

Some famous acoustic works

Density 21.5 (flute solo)

Hyperprism
Octandre

Edgard Varse

Two famous Electronic works

Dserts (1954)

Composed at GRM
For orchestra and tape
7 sections, 4 orchestra, 3 tape
Dovetailed so that tape and orchestra never played
simultaneously
Criticized for the different sections
Later reworked and completed at the Columbia-Princeton
studios with help from Ussachevsky and Luening.

Desrts

Was not well received at premiere in Paris

Crowd was really waiting for Tchaikovskys Pathetique

Symphony

A riot almost as furious and bloody as that provoked by

the first performance of Le Sacre ensued, and the work
was often inaudible through the barrage of stamping,
clapping, and catcalls that arose after a few minutes.
Even for those listening to the radio broadcast, the
music was completely submerged in the general melee.
-review of Deserts, The Score, 1955

Pome lectronique

Commissioned for the 1958 Brussels Worlds

Fair

The Phillips Pavilion was designed for Varses new piece.

Inside were 400 loudspeakers

Accompanied by visual projections

Composed in the Phillips studio in Eindhoven

The directors of Phillips did not understand his music and

tried to take him off the project

Received well!
500 people at a time listened to it

Over 2 million people experienced it!

Iannis Xenakis

Greek composer, theorist, architect

1922-2001
Used stochastic (mathematical/random) methods to create
music

Designed the Phillips Pavilion for 1958 Worlds Fair

Also composed a piece to be played after every two

repeats of Poem lectronique, called Concret PH

Important works:

Metastasis (1964) - Orchestra

Orient-Occident (1960) - tape
Bohor (1962) - tape

Alvin Lucier

b. 1931

Godfather of process music (even if he doesnt have the title)

Most famous work:

Piece begins a process that is carried out throughout according

to the written rules

I Am Sitting in a Room (1970)

Recording of Luciers voice reading a paragraph, played back
and re-recorded in a space

Other important works:

Music for Solo Performer (1965), for brain waves and

instruments
Music on a Long Thin Wire (1977), for stretched piano wire
Nothing Is Real (1990), for piano, recorder and amplified teapot

John Chowning

Born 1934

Stanford student, and now professor

Worked on improving quality of computer sounds

Patented this process, then bought by Yamaha in 1974

Using FM synthesis and only two-oscillators was making brass

sounds more realistic than more complicated processes
Became the DX-7 Digital Synth in 1985, probably the topselling synth of all time

A few representative works

Turenas (1972)
Stria (1977)
Phon (1980-81)

Terry Riley

b. 1935

Worked at the SF Music Tape Center

Process music, but very different from Luciers version of

process music

Minimalism:

Music that is based mostly in consonant harmony, steady pulse (if not
immobile drones), stasis and slow transformation, and often reiteration of
musical phrases or smaller units such as figures, motifs, and cells.

People use process music interchangeably with Minimalism

This is not entirely correct, although minimalism deals with transformation

over time, it may not be as strict as process music

Terry Riley

Famous works:

In C (1964)

Any instrument combinations/#players performs

small musical fragments, performers decide how
many repetitions to play before moving to the next

A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969)

Shri Camel (1980)

Used organs and synths to create transcendental

atmospheres

Pauline Oliveros

b. 1932
Founding member of SFTMC
Founded Deep Listening

A philosophy of listening beyond your ears, uses

whole body and more

Sonic Awareness

is the ability to consciously focus attention upon

environmental and musical sound, requiring continual
alertness and an inclination towards always listening

Pauline Oliveros

Uses tape loops to create process music

I of IV (1966)

Used 2 tape machines on an eight second delay,

then sound fed back into the first tape recorder, with
addition of reverb the result was a barrage of slowly
unfolding undulations that changed dynamically as
sounds were repeated

Could be replicated live

Steve Reich

b. 1936
Pioneer of minimalism
Uses a lot of phasing in acoustic music

Playing a repeating pattern that gets shifted by a small

duration.

Used in acoustic and electronic music

Reich Works
Two famous tape loop pieces

Both employ phase shifting

Come Out (1966)

Its Gonna Rain (1965)

Pieces for tape and performer

Different Trains (1988) String Quartet, tape

Electric Counterpoint (1987) E. Guitar, tape
New York Counterpoint (1985) Clarinet, tape

Mario Davidovsky
b. 1934
Serial composer
Originally a Princeton composer. Now teaches at

Mannes College in NYC

Famous series of works:

Synchronisms (up to 12 now)

For instrument and tape

No. 6 (piano and tape) won the Pulitzer prize in 1971

Jonathan Harvey

1939-2012

Highly celebrated composer. Taught at many universities and

summer festivals around Europe and the US

Did important work in the field of speech synthesis at IRCAM in

the 80s

Important works:

Speakings for large orchestra and electronics

Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco for computer manipulated sounds

Bhakti for 15 players and quadriphonic tape

Jon Appleton

B. 1939

Important figure in American electronic music

Taught at Dartmouth College for many years and developed what

would eventually become the Synclavier system

Founded SEAMUS (Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United

States) after becoming part of international EA music societies.

SEAMUS is currently the leading society for electroacoustic art

music in the United States

Has composed a great deal of music, both electronic and

acoustic, and has done lots of monumental work and research in
computer music

Denis Smalley

B. 1946

British composer, specializes in acousmatic music

Studied at the Paris Conservatory, GRM and with musique

concrete pioneer Francois Bayle

Developed the idea of spectromorphology, the manner in

which a composer develops source sounds over time

Pentes (1974) for tape is regarded as one of the classic

pieces in the acousmatic EA literature

Russell Pinkston

B. 1949

Studied at Dartmouth (with Jon Appleton) and later at

Columbia University

Currently head of composition and computer music at

University of Texas Austin

Co-founder of SEAMUS and former president

Important figure in development of live processing and

interactive electronic music for performers and dance

Curtis Roads

Composer, researcher, computer programmer, author

Studied at Cal-Arts and UC-Sand Diego. Now teaches at

UC-Santa Barbara

Co-founded the International Computer Music Associated

in 1980 and edited the Computer Music Journal from 19782000. Also wrote the Computer Music Tutorial in 1996.

First composer to implement digital granular synthesis

Jonty Harrisson

B. 1952

British composer of acousmatic music and researcher in computer music

Professor at University of Birmingham, specializing at the British

Electroacoustic Sound Theater (BEAST)

Contains a 100-channel 3-D sound diffusion system

Key figure in acousmatic music and electronic music of the late 20 th

century

Important pieces:

Klang

Unsound Objects

Miller Puckette

b. 1957?

The new Max Matthews?

B.A. in Mathematics from MIT. PhD in Mathematics from

Harvard
Researcher at IRCAM

Developed Max and later Max/MSP while there

Also developed Puredata (freeware version of Max)

Teaches composition and computer music at UCSD

Brian Eno

b. 1948

Father of Ambient music

Pop musician, composer, producer, etc.

Played in the band Roxy Music and later became a successful solo musician. Produced
albums by Devo, Talking Heads and many other experimental electronic sound artists
of the 80s

Famous works:
Music for Airports (1978)
Discreet Music (1975)

Frank Zappa
1940-1993
Rock musician, composer, film maker, writer, visual

artistmodern-day Renaissance man

Most prominent as a career rock musician

Also wrote a lot of orchestral music and did pioneering work

in electronic music and avant-garde/pop crossover music

One of the first people to personally own a Synclavier.

Also was invited to IRCAM by Pierre Boulez

Jonny Greenwood
B. 1971
Guitarist, composer and computer programmer

Known best for his work with Radiohead

Also a prominent film composer (There Will Be Blood)

Effects rig contains an array of digital effects (some built

by Greenwood)

Also incorporates Max/MSP in his gear and writes software

programs used in Radiohead and other side/solo projects

Want more

For more great reading about EA music, check the

following:
empreintes Digitales
SEAMUS online
ICMC
Canadian Electroacoustic Community