![]() Meanwhile, in Cologne, composers such as Herbert Eimart and Karlheinz Stockhausen were investigating the use of electromechanical oscillators to produce pure sound waves that could be mixed and sequenced with a high degree of precision. ![]() Schaeffer's Étude aux chemins de fer (1948) and Henry and Schaeffer's Symphonie pour un homme seul are classics of the genre. The composers at the Paris studio, most notably Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaeffer, developed the early compositional technique of musique concrète, working directly with recordings of sound on phonographs and magnetic tape to construct compositions through a process akin to what we would now recognize as sampling. In the early postwar period, the first electronic music studios flourished at radio stations in Paris (ORTF) and Cologne (WDR). The invention and wide adoption of magnetic tape as a medium for the recording of audio signals provided a breakthrough for composers waiting to compose purely with sound. 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. Photoelectric, film, and mechanical mediums for the synthetic production of music will be explored. 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. John Cage, in his 1937 monograph Credo: The Future of Music, wrote this elliptical doctrine: Luigi Russolo, the futurist composer, wrote in his 1913 manifesto The Art of Noises of a futurist orchestra harnessing the power of mechanical noisemaking (and phonographic reproduction) to “liberate” sound from the tyranny of the merely musical. Many composers of the time were, not unreasonably, entranced by the potential of these new mediums of transcription, transmission, and performance. 2 New electronic musical instruments, from the large and impractical telharmonium to the simple and elegant theremin multiplied in tandem with recording and broadcast technologies and prefigured the synthesizers, sequencers, and samplers of today. Emile Berliner's gramophone record (1887) and the advent of AM radio broadcasting under Guglielmo Marconi (1922) democratized and popularized the consumption of music, initiating a process by which popular music quickly transformed from an art of minstrelsy into a commodified industry worth tens of billions of dollars worldwide. Thomas Edison's 1857 invention of the phonograph and Nikola Tesla's wireless radio demonstration of 1893 paved the way for what was to be a century of innovation in the electromechanical transmission and reproduction of sound. As a result, the artist today working with sound has not only a huge array of tools to work with, but also a medium exceptionally well suited to technological experimentation. 1 The ability to create, manipulate, and reproduce lossless sound by digital means is having, at the time of this writing, an equally revolutionary effect on how we listen. Indeed, the development of phonography (the ability to reproduce sound mechanically) has, by itself, had such a transformative effect on aural culture that it seems inconceivable now to step back to an age where sound could emanate only from its original source. Unsurprisingly, therefore, we find that in the machine age these same people found themselves first in line to take advantage of the new techniques and possibilities offered by electricity, telecommunications, and, in the last century, digital computers to leverage all of these systems to create new and expressive forms of sonic art. From developments in the writing and transcription of music (notation) to the design of spaces for the performance of music (acoustics) to the creation of musical instruments, composers and musicians have availed themselves of advances in human understanding to perfect and advance their professions. ![]() The history of music is, in many ways, the history of technology. If you see any errors or have comments, please let us know. ![]() ![]() This tutorial is “Extension 3” from Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists, Second Edition, published by MIT Press. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |