Introduction

Isao Tomita (with his Moog), in his studio, Tokyo 1976. (Associated Press).

Introduction

Here we will look at the evolution of electronic music composition and focus on the Japanese artist Isao Tomita, his contemporary’s and some artists who came later. Concepts and ideas of early electronic music production to the first synthesizers and their successors. An analysis of Tomitas music in focus and some of his inspiration and composition technique, aesthetic, style and innovations.  The evolution of electronic music over six decades can be attributed partly to Tomita’s work and we will discus that here. We will took extensively at the technology involved in the genre from its early day of experimentation through to some of the pioneering innovators and systems as they develop. Artists achievements and backgrounds are discussed and how they lead to the adding of the body of music in the electronic genre. Some reviews of their music will be looked at and how they came to add to this style of music. Tomita’s legacy will show how one man’s music influced a generation of musicians and beyond to todays musical composition techniques and styles. Tomita’s music has led to the prevalence of electronic composition in most of today’s chart music, this preferred method of music composition has gone from obscurity to common place and is a staple for modern producers, composer and millions of people globally.

Early Electronic Experimentation and Performances

The earliest synthesizer can be traced back to 1957 around the time of the development of tape machine music being produced in Germany and France, by the likes of Pierre Shaffer and his music concrete. This was the same year Edgard Varese was working on Poeme electronique and Luening and Ussachevsky were experimenting with the RCA mark 1 Synthesizer in New Jersey. Bell labs engineer Max Mathews began programming a computer to synthesize notes of music. This resulted in a monophonic piece of seventeen seconds. The language created was called MUSIC1 and had only one voice on a triangular waveform.

“With the completion of MUSIC V in 1969, Mathews provided a version programmed in FORTRAN , a general-purpose computing language that could run on any conventional computer at the time, opening the doors to the development of additional modifications of the MUSIC series by other composers and programmers. 4 Other computer music developers who created variations of “ MUSIC N ,” as it came to be known, included Barry Vercoe at MIT who designed Music 360 , and John Chowning and James Moorer at Stanford University who developed Music 10 . After releasing MUSIC V , Mathews moved on to develop GROOVE in 1970, or Generated Real-time Output Operations on Voltage-controlled Equipment , a computer system with a display screen interface to simplify the management of digital music synthesis in real time. As Mathews explained: The computer performer should not attempt to define the entire sound in real time. Instead the computer should retain a score and the performer should influence the way in which the score is played . . . the mode of conducting consists of turning knobs and pressing keys rather than waving a stick, but this is a minor detail.” (Holmes, pp.253/254.)[1]

German composer Michael Koenig was an earlier pioneer of computer music. In 1954 he worked in the electronic music studios of West German radio in Cologne. Koenig was a composer and was well versed in serial techniques and assisted composers such as Stockhausen and Ligeti. He was also a student of music theory. He became interested in computer programming and was interested in translating serial music into a system. He completed Project 1 in 1964. This extended the reach of serial music beyond tone row allowing for varying degrees of randomness and permutations.

“It was thus necessary,” explained Koenig, “to limit the procedure to a compositional model containing important elements of the serial method, and to test that model under various conditions with different musical goals in mind.” (Holmes, p.256.)[2]

In 1966 the magnetic tape studio was a leading edge in electronic music technology. There were 560 documented tape studios in the world, most being privately equipped. This followed the relative cheapness and affordability of tape machines and other recording equipment. The first synthesizers premiered around this time and brought electronic music making out of the radio shack so to speak and into the music studios.

“Even though the practice of composing with magnetic tape is obsolete today, many of the most fundamental effects associated with electronic music originated with the pioneers who learned how to push the limitations of this fragile medium. The state of the art may have shifted from magnetic tape to digital media, but the basic concepts of sound manipulation born over 50 years ago still apply. Most of these techniques are still fundamental to the recording and manipulation of sounds using digital media and software. In fact, most software designed for the editing and processing of sounds continues to borrow its lexicon of terms and controls from the world of magnetic tape, where the concepts of Record, Play, Fast Forward, Rewind, and Pause were first applied.”(Holmes, p124.)[3]

The advance of electronic music performance can be seen as early as 1958, (and earlier,) at the Philips Pavilion of the Worlds fair in Brussels, where Edgard Varese performed his Poeme electronique. This was a short work combining bells, machines, human voices, sirens, percussive instruments and electronic tones. This is considered a major turning point in electronic music performance. Paris and Cologne are some places were early electronic music composition began to emerge, but another country began to explore the art of electronic production. Japan now is up there with some of the most modern designs in electronic musical equipment such as the synthesizer, including brands like Roland.

“The evolution of electronic music in Japan was significant because it represented the first infusion of Asian culture into the new genre. The development of tape music in Japan also marked the beginning the nation’s fascination with electronic instrumentation and the eventual domination of Japanese industry in the development of music synthesizers and other music technology. The story of early Japanese electronic music began in relative isolation following World War II. As in the West, where composers such as Varèse and Cage had anticipated the use of musical technology, there were a few Japanese composers who anticipated the development of synthetic means for creating music. As early as 1948, composer Toru Takemitsu (1930–96) conceived a music in which he could use technology to “bring noise into tempered musical tones” and noted that Schaeffer had apparently thought of the same thing at about the same time in Paris when he developed musique concrète . Composer Minao Shibata (1916–96) wrote in 1949 that “Someday, in the near future, a musical instrument with very high performance will be developed, in which advanced science technology and industrial power are highly utilized. We will be able to synthesize any kind of sound waves with the instrument.”  Although electronic musical instruments such as the Ondes Martenot , Theremin, and Trautonium were little known in Japan until the 1950s, a few composers including Shibata had heard about them.” (Holmes, p.106)[4]

Herbert Eimert was a German composer who also jumped on the electronic bandwagon, establishing the WDR studio in the 1950’s. An opposite to the GRM studio in France headed by Pierre Shaffer, experimenting with magnetic tape.

 “Despite the fact that electronic music is the outcome of decades of technical development, it is only in most recent times that it has reached a stage at which it may be considered as part of the legitimate musical sphere.” Holmes, p. 334)[5]

Eimert wrote this after establishing the electronic music studio WDR. He intended purely electronic tones to become a new material for performing serialist works. The German studio developed a reputation and produced several serialist pieces produced electronically. In contrast to the works of musique concrete created at the GRM studio in France under Pierre Schaffer. This music from both studios was the result of tape splicing which Holmes explains in his work-

“The cutting and splicing of magnetic tape is, in effect, no different from moving sound around in time and space. A magnetic tape recording is linear in that the signal is recorded from the start of the tape to its end as it passes across the recording head of the tape recorder. The recording head instils an electromagnetic imprint of the audio signal onto the iron oxide coating of the tape. This imprint is not permanently fixed and can be recorded over or disturbed by bringing it into close proximity with any strong magnetic field such as that of a loudspeaker. A recorded sound is played by passing the taped signal across a playback head that translates the magnetic imprint into an audible sound. The magnetic tape-recording process is analogue, meaning that no digitization of the signal is used to record or playback sounds” (Holmes, p.125.)[6]

One advancement with tape was the creation of echo reverb, delay and tape loops. Echo is the use of a sound in repetition that gradually decays until it fades away. This was achieved by using a tape machine with three heads, erase, record and playback. Reverberation can be confused with echo as both effects are based on a similar technique. Reverberation is fractional time delays in the perception of sound as it bounces back from reflective surfaces in the environment. Tape delay is a form of tape echo in which time between the repetitions is lengthened. This was done using two or more widely space tape machines with a single length of magnetic tape. A sound was recorded on the first machine and played back on the second.

“In the world of electronic music there are many works that cannot be accurately transcribed and reproduced from a printed score. The underlying reason for this is that electronic music is a medium in which the composer directly creates the performance either as a recording or a live performance. There is rarely a need for somebody else to interpret or read a score other than the composer. Many works are realized directly only one time using electronic media for the purpose of creating a recording. This is not to deny attempts made by composers to score electronic music. But scoring often results in a composer devising a unique form of notation to define the elements of a work that is especially suited to whatever sound-generating technology is available to them.” (Holmes, p.122.)[7]

  It was in 1950 that the Japanese electronics company in partnership with the Japanese composer Takimitsu developed the Sony G-Type tape recorder. Magnetic tape was further developed from a World War Two invention of the Nazi’s who used it to tape record speeches of Adolf Hitler and broadcast them simultaneously at different locations in Europe to put the allies of the Fuhrer’s location, to thwart any kind of assassination attempt. The technology was seized by the allies at the end of the war, and further developed in Europe, Asia and America. “Japanese post-war composers including Shibata, Takemitsu, and the Jikken Kobo group had heard about musique concrète from Paris, but the actual recordings of this electronic music were not available in Japan until 1957. The initial exposure of Japanese musicians to musique concrète came by way of composer Toshiro Mayuzumi (1929–97), who had attended a concert of Schaeffer’s electronic music while studying in Paris in 1952.”(Holmes, p 107.) [8]

Takehisa Kosugi evolved this early tape music into live, improvised and experimental composition in the 1960’s. Influenced by the music of John Cage, Kosugi formed the group Ongaku. This was an avent garde performance ensemble consisting of other Japanese performers. They became known as the NHK. They gave their first performance in Japan in 1961. This sparked interest for electronic music in Japan. It is not long after this we see the emergence of the Japanese electronic music composer Isoa Tomita. “The emergence of Japanese electronic music onto the world stage was greatly furthered by works commissioned for Expo ’70, the World’s Fair at Osaka in 1970. At least 20 Japanese composers received commissions to produce new music for a variety of pavilions at the fair, forming a competition resulting in many spectacular presentations.  Many of these works were electronic in nature and provided an opportunity for Japanese composers to work with some of their Western counterparts. NHK reliably provided the technical facilities, encouragement, and support of electronic music composers that made possible the gradual evolution of a more uniquely Japanese approach to the medium, the importance of which is today represented by a host of innovative synthesizer, laptop, and experimental composers, including Takehisa Kosugi, Isao Tomita (b. 1932), Ryuichi Sakamoto (b. 1952), Tetsu Inoue (b. 1969), and many others.” (Holmes, p113.) [9]

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[1] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis [CAM].

[2] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis [CAM].

[3] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis [CAM].

[4] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis [CAM].

[5] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis [CAM].

[6] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis [CAM].

[7] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis [CAM].

[8] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis [CAM].

[9] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis [CAM].

Tomita and Carlos

A lot of these early Japanese composers were put into a corner after World War Two and where expected to emulate their western counterparts. This is something that helped lead Tomita into some of his most famous works. Tomita started out producing music for television and film which we will get into later. In his early life he took private lessons in orchestration and composition. In the late 1960’s he took an interest in the electronic composer Wendy Carlos who composed Switched on Bach (1968), which emulated the music of J.S. Bach using electronic synthesis.  “This work single-handedly popularized the Moog synthesizer and started a new industry for commercial electronic musical instruments. It also proved that electronic music did not only dwell in the realm of the experimental or novelty.” (Holmes, p 430)[1]

Isao Tomita found it hard to get noticed with his electronic take on classical music. It was an almost unheard-of thing aside from Wendy Carlos’ Switched on Bach. The record companies did not know which category to place the work in. Was it classical or was it pop? The synthesizer being a somewhat new instrument at the time and before electronic, or space music had made an impact from other artists such as Jarre or Vangelis.

Wendy Carlos, 1980, Photo-Vernon. L. Smith.

“When I acquired my first synthesizer, it took me a year and four months to complete my first recording, 'Snowflakes are Dancing'. I was really pleased with it, and naturally, I was full of confidence that everyone else would like it too. But the reaction from my Japanese record company was "What on Earth is this?!". It's not pop, not classical - there was no convenient category into which they could market it. This was extremely disappointing for me, so I decided to go to New York (though I spoke almost no English!), where I met a man called Peter Manders at RCA Records, who had heard 'Switched-On Bach' and who I felt sure would listen to the tapes. Peter was very impressed with the tape of 'Snowflakes are Dancing', and the same day decided to release it. I wondered how it would be received, and under what category. I was told that it would appear in the record shelves of both pop and classical - what a change from the reaction in Japan! RCA released the record, and it became a big success in America.” (Tomita)[2]

Tomita speaks about his first impressions of Carlo’s and how he went on to follow along the same lines of classical recital through electronic means.

“Generally speaking, in music, there is a maestro and apprentice, or teacher and student when it comes to learning, but when I started, there was no one to advise me - I was a pioneer. But when I listened to Switched-On Bach, I really felt that I could compete as a rival, not a teacher or a student. In my view, the Baroque nature of the piece conveys a line drawing, but I thought that rather than that, I could try and create music with pictures and colour, and that is when I hit upon the idea of using music of the French impressionists, such as Debussy and Ravel. “(Tomita) [3]

Carlos went on to compose further works including the theme to the Disney film Tron, (1982), The Shinning (1980) and A Clockwork Orange, (1972.) Tomita began building his home studio including a Moog III which he purchased in the US, (having problems getting the instrument through customs), and composed his first album Electronic Samurai-Switched on Rock. This album was entirely electronic and used speech synthesis in place of the human voice. This was released in 1972 and contained electronic versions of contemporary Rock and Pop songs. Tomita states about his first impressions of the Moog III-

“It was hell. Prior to purchasing it, I had thought it was like an electric organ, but when it came, I realised it was not that simple. I had to change my perception of what instruments are supposed to be like, because it was something totally different. All it made was noise at first. And the instructions didn't help much since it was only about 15 pages, talking about the functions of the machine, but not shedding light on how to create certain sounds.” (Tomita) [4]

Tomita was also influenced by Robert Moog’s work with synthesizers and from Carlos’ work, he was driven to try his hand at the recital of high art or classical music with the use of electronic synthesis. His work was a major turning point in the popularity of the synthesizer at the time and changed the face of music. Tomia states in an interview on the 13^th July 2012-

“In the 1950s, when I was in college, I arranged orchestrated versions of popular music and children's songs for use in schools, TV commercials and radio shows. During that time, I arrived to the conclusion that everything that could be achieved in orchestration has already been done in Wagner's time and, eventually, I realized that I wanted to make my own music using my own sounds. I started experimenting with effects units like Vox's Fuzz-Tone. In the '70s, I discovered the Moog synthesizer, and came across Walter Carlos' album Switched-On Bach. Rock bands like Emerson Lake & Palmer, Pink Floyd and Yes would also use Minimoog in their music later on, but while they merely incorporated the Moog sound into their rock music, Walter Carlos built an entire album around the synthesizer. That idea totally blew my mind. But the thing is, Bach's music can be replayed on any instrument as long as it's in tune, and I felt that Switched-On Bach's sound could have been better. If you're gonna use something like a Moog synthesizer, you have to tweak the tone and put out something incredible. “(Tomita) [5]

Some of this early electronic composition was produced by what became known as solder musicians or solder music, people building their own electronic equipment, including Robert Moog.

“Hobbyists took up electrical projects in increasing numbers as retail stores such as Radio Shack, Lafayette, and Heathkit competed vigorously for their business. Magazines such as Popular Electronics were brimming over with projects for self-taught gadget makers. One of the consequences of this Renaissance of inventing was a new generation of amateur and professional engineers who turned their attention to improving the state of electronic musical instruments. Robert Moog, Donald Buchla, Hugh Le Caine, and Raymond Scott were all a part of this new wave of inventors.”(Holmes, p142.)[6]

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[1] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis [CAM].

[2]

[2] Isoa Tomita.net, Interviews, accessed on 25/10/2019

[3] Isoa Tomita.net, Interviews, accessed on 25/10/2019

[4] 2012, Isoa Tomita, Moog Reverie, Accessed on 25/10/2019,

[5] 2012, Isoa Tomita, Moog Reverie, Accessed on 25/10/2019

[6] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis [CAM].

Other Contemporary Artists

Around the late 60’s early 70’s other electronic artists were emerging into the mainstream such as the French composer Jean Michel Jarre and the self-taught and talented Greek composer Evangelos Odysseas Papathenassiou, otherwise known as Vangelis. Jarre’s first risky but biggest ground-breaking hit, his first successful album was Oxygen, a magnificent electronic journey, released in 1976 and composed entirely in his makeshift home studio. This album release was a gamble by the label Disques Dreyfus who signed Jarre, as this sort of music had not yet gained mainstream popularity, and the titles of the tracks Oxygen 1-6 was never before seen in popular music.

Jean Michel Jarre, 1979 Place De La Concorde-Photo Douglas Doig

Vangelis who was to become known for composing film scores such as the score to the films Blade Runner, and Chariots of Fire among others, produced his first album away from his band Aphrodite’s Child. Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit - (Make your dream be longer than the night), was his first release in France and Greece in 1971. The album contained news snippets, field recordings and protest songs and was produced around the time of student riots in France in 1968.

Vangelis, Circa 1984.

Around the same time emerged the German electronic ensemble Tangerine Dream. Foundered by Edgar Froese, these three artists helped to pioneer the space music scene. The band has seen various line ups over the years, Forese being the only permanent member up into the twenty-first centaury. The band had a big impact on the German music scene known as Kosmische (Cosmic). They later signed to Richard Branson’s fledgling label Virgin. Their first release was called Electronic Meditation, released in 1970 on the label Ohr. These artists and others including Tomita began to emerge and define a new genre of what was termed space music by some. Tomita was even noted as saying on the back of his album Kosmos, that he tried to envision what some classical pieces would sound like being renditioned in outer space.

Tangerine Dream, Royal Albert Hall 1975.

The late 1970’s saw the emergence of the Japanese electronic composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Sakamoto was a singer, actor and music producer and was a member of the band the Yellow Magic Orchestra, (who’s member Hideki Matsutake was an assistant of Tomita’s.) Sakamoto released the experimental album Thousand Knives in 1978. Sakamoto was famous later on for composing the electronic score to the David Bowie film Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, concerning British prisoners of war in a Japanese concentration camp during World War Two. Sakamoto was classically trained and began experimenting with synthesizers, (including the Moog,) whilst at university. He has stated that he was incredibly influenced by Claude Debussy.

 

Ryuichi Sakamoto, 25^th April 2017.

Tomita speaks of his assistant Matsutake-

“Yes. I was becoming increasingly busy around then, so I had Matsutake manage me at a music production company he was working for back then. When I started to understand which cords to connect to create the right sounds, I decided I'd let some younger guys try it, so I invited Matsutake. With Moog, you have to keep the power on all day for it to work properly, so when I wasn't using it, I'd let others use it. I would use it from 8 PM to 4 AM, and then there would be a group using it from 4 AM to noon, and then another group would come in and play around with it until 8 PM. The reason I didn't teach him how to use it is because it would be pointless if he imitated what I did and created the same sound. Because I didn't interfere with what he was doing, the Yellow Magic Orchestra project that Matsutake was involved in developed their own sound different from mine, and eventually, they gained much more success than I did.” (Tomita)[1]

Brian Eno is an electronic artist who first began to experiment with tape machines in the early 1970’s whilst at college. Earlier he designed his own tape delay using two tape machines with a single reel of tape. Eno studied painting and experimental music at Ipswich Civic College in the mid 1960’s. Between 1971-73 he became a member of the glam rock band Roxy Music. He operated the mixing desk and used the VCS3 synthesizer and tape machines for the band. In 1973-77 he created four solo albums electronically which he termed Pop Art. One of these albums was Here Come the Warm Jets.1973. Eno is well known for producing ambient music (which he termed), such as his album Ambient 1 Music for Airports 1978. Eno has worked with many artists over the years such as Robert Fripp of King Crimson, David Bowie, U2, Coldplay and David Byrne of Talking Heads. He also produced artists such as John Cale and Talking Heads. Eno has influenced many electronic artists since including the likes of electronic musician and producer William Orbit.

Brian Eno, Air Studios London 1973

This point in time with space music or as it has come to be known, electronica; is a stark contrast to the early experiments in electronic music, with the likes of Shaffer and his music concrete. Some compositions of this time were heavily influenced by classical music and serialist pieces and it seems fitting that Tomita went on to emulate such composers as Debussy and Wagner electronically. It seems that art is mimicking art.

“In the same 1955 issue of the journal die Reihe that featured Eimert’s thoughts, Pierre Boulez offered a cautionary tale of composers gone astray in the electronic music studio, their once-fixed audio limitations having become unlimited, leading to the “negative cliché” of special effects gone mad.  The underlying message? The taste that governs the writing of traditional music can well serve the composer of electronic music. By its nature as a music using a new medium, the composing and performing of electronic music will naturally lead to new sounds, techniques, and styles of music. In 1969, looking back at the decade of the Sixties, no less a musical figurehead than composer Igor Stravinsky commented that the most telling index of musical progress in the 1960s:”- [was] not in the work of any composer . . . but in the status of electronic music . . . the young musician takes his degree in computer technology now, and settles down to his Moog or his mini-synthesizer as routinely as in my day he would have taken it in counterpoint and harmony and gone to work at the piano.” (Holmes, pp.334/335.)[2]

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[1] 2012, Isoa Tomita, Moog Reverie, Accessed on 25/10/2019

[2] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis [CAM].

TV, Film and Performance

Tomita’s work was used extensively in television and film, his Arabesque No1 was used for the astronomy series Jack Horkheimer-Star Gazer in the US and the intro and outro on the Spanish children’s TV show Planeta Imaginairo (Imaginary Planet). His Reverie was used at the opening and closing credits on the Japanese TV Fuji Television transitions. Other works were used on the Zatoichi TV series and films and also the Oshi Samurai, (mute Samurai,) TV series. Also, the Toho science fiction disaster film in 1999. In 2001 he worked with Disney for the background atmospheric music for the Aqua Sphere in the Tokyo Disney Sea Theme Park. Tomita composed for the 2002 synthesizer score for the film Twilight Samurai which featured acoustic soloists. His version of Debussy’s Clair De Lune was used in the film Oceans 13 in 2007. Tomita performed in Tokyo directing the Japan Philharmonic which featured the digital singing Avatar Hatsuni Miku created by Crypton Future Media in 2012. In 2015, tracks from Tomita’s Snowflakes are Dancing album were used in the US film Heaven Knows What. Tomita performed various concerts over the years including his Soundcloud concerts, with speakers surrounding the audience in the Cloud of Sound. Tomita speaks in an interview about live concerts-

“There are many places I would like to hold a concert, including as you mentioned the Grand Canyon or the Moon, but if there's no air on the Moon, how would the sound travel! So I have been researching how it would be possible to hold a concert over the Internet or a digital line, because until now, for what is called a "Sound Cloud" concert, I had to organise a huge area covered in sound or music, containing say an audience of 40,000. This is a small space, in which people can enjoy the concert together with an invisible cover of audio / sounds from the helicopter's speaker and also from the speakers in a circle around the audience. But still I am looking to find out what can be done over a digital line, like Ryuichi Sakamoto tried something, with the person in one place, and using digital circuits, there was an unmanned piano performing in a different place. But while an audience can listen to such a concert, this is just a mere showing of the technology. The audience should interpret the content of a concert or else it just becomes a showcase. So still I am wondering, what can be done? I really like the idea of music over a network, a web site, or digital lines. If I can sort out all the questions I have, then a big concert might even be possible from the moon! Then, all the audience on the Earth could enjoy the sound from other planets or else from the other side of the Earth, but still I am not sure how to realise this technically.” (Tomita)[1]

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[1] Isoa Tomita.net, Interviews, accessed on 25/10/2019

Inspiration

Tomita influenced a lot of artists with his classical emulations, including Sakamoto and even Michael Jackson, who with Tomita experimented with synthesizers, Jackson even considered working with Tomita on an album that never materialised. It can be said that Tomita turned a lot of people onto classical music and maybe classical lovers onto electronic music.

“The second wave of influence was on a vast array of U.S. musicians, ranging from funk and soul artists like Stevie Wonder, who credited Tomita for turning him on to several classical composers, to hip hop producers like J Dilla, Black Milk and Flying Lotus who discovered Tomita’s music through exhaustively “digging “. They all utilised Tomita’s music in their productions, recognising a compatibility between their progressive beats and Tomita’s melodic works. As a result, Tomita can be heard behind rappers as diverse Slum Village, Guilty Simpson, Busta Rhymes and Earl Sweatshirt.”[1]

"But the final, and perhaps most pure of Tomita’s influences is on the individuals of the self-contained noise scene in Tampa, Florida.[….], tells the tale of how a group of school kids discovered Tomita’s music on a unmarked tape they found discarded near their school yard, and how they spent years attempting to emulate the music and identify its creator. It’s interesting to see how they interpreted Tomita’s music, knowing nothing of its origins and having no way to contextualise it, as well as how it led to them to creating a music which is brazen and esoteric, rather than melodic and accessible. This is a true indication of how widespread Tomita’s influence really is, and how significant his music has been on music that has followed."[2]

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[1] 2016, The Immeasurable Influence of Isao Tomita/Band on the Wall.org,

[2] 2016, The Immeasurable Influence of Isao Tomita/Band on the Wall.org, accessed on 25/10/2019

The Moog

In Tomita’s heyday, the Moog he used to compose his first album with was not polyphonic, meaning only single notes could be played at any one time. This meant that playing chords would be a difficult process of multi-tracking each note from say a tonic triad and using a layering technique which would prove difficult and time consuming. Quite a feat considering he would need to play in the parts that are emulating each section of the orchestra individually to produce the large sound he has in his compositions. The Moog at the time was a far cry from today’s digital synthesizers. Known as modular and analogue, it took a lot of creativity and hard work to produce a sound from these instruments.

“If I look back, thinking about and listening to stuff from the old albums through to the recent ones, digital synthesizers are quite easy for me to use. People usually have a tendency to use something much easier instead of doing a more difficult job from the beginning. But analogue or Moog synthesizers - it's like if you want to have dinner in a good suit. If it's custom tailored, then that's really something with which you can express yourself. But if it's ready-made, well of course you can buy it very easily, but everybody has the same thing.
If I want to express my personality, it's got to be analogue because sometimes even the noise can be included in a recording. Analogue is more human, and therefore more part of my personality. Thinking about analogue synthesizers and the recent high technology digital ones, all synthesizers are like a painter's palette. For example, I myself, or Kitaro, or the old Yellow Magic Orchestra – all these three use the same analogue synthesizers, but the music created by the synthesizer becomes really different for each of the three different characters. But nowadays, if I use a ready-made digital synthesizer, my music becomes quite similar to those who use the same synthesizer. It becomes really boring, and it's also very difficult to express my own strong characteristics. And for that reason, I still like to use analogue synthesizers sometimes. “(Tomita) [1]

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[1] Isoa Tomita.net, Interviews, accessed on 25/10/2019