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].