chapter 5

• electronic music was the 3rd stage of aesthetic music. the 1st stage is vocals. the 2nd is instrumenal
• vocals- H.H. stucken schmidt
• there are 7traits of electronic music.1. sound resources to electronic music are unlimited-you can sample then create. you can capture previously made sounds and you can invent sounds that dont exist in nature.2.electronic music can expand perception of tonality-microtonality means unlimited steps. all sounds carry equal importance. tones for sake of tones.3.electronic music exists in state of actualization-igor stravinsky: potential music and actual music. potential=score, actual=whats being played. there is no actual way of scoring the music. alvin lucier(b.1931) "i am sitting in a room" he recorded his voice several different times. all the rooms have there own certain tuning. "formats"=records pitches from room bouncing back and forth from walls. we saw a you tube video where a guy does the same but with the video image along with the audio. the artifacts inherent in the video codec. worst things of conversion are being amplified! scores can be used for future performances.4.electronic music has special relationship with temporal nature of music- you can record the aspects of time. pitch, timbre and envelope that can be rearranged in time.(elastic music).5.sound itself becomes material of composition-ability to get inside physics of sound and manipulate characteristics. allowing composer to treat sounds as equals.6. electronic music does not breath: not affected by limitations of human performance-contrast rhythm and speed is not important.7. electronic music lacks point of comparison with natural world of sounds, providing mental imaginative experience-listening requires intellect (cant accept phase value) and imagination to interpret what is being heard. engages meaning of unnatural sounds.
• tape composition methods and techniques were most modern recording practices and techniques are rooted in the classic tape studio
• transport in the pro tools soft ware is the same as a tape deck.
• schaeffer, cage, henry, varese: this type of composition liberated them
• tape embodies space and time. you can see amount of tape for sound to be produced and unfold. it resonates with perception of time
• technology levels all characteristics of levels of sound. (slow down and speed up) chords become rhythm and rhythm becomes drums.
• duration pitch and color are now interchangeable as pitch changes color changes.

mellotron

mechanically, how did the mellotron work? mellotron is a sample play back keyboard. it was an invention stolen from the chamberlin which was the original sample play back keyboard. the way it worked was it had a bunch of sample tapes and you would be a able to play them just by holding a key down. each key has a tape which different sounds are recorded onto and each note can be held down for 8seconds.

why were the master tapes so important and why was the acquisition of them crucial? master tapes were important because it would give you the variety of picking the sounds you wanted. with out master tapes you would b limited to just a few sounds.

who were the key players? the inventor? the significant users of the instrument? the inventor was Harry Chamberlin. he introduced the very first chamberlin in 1949. the instrument would replicate sounds from another instrument. it would be able to play orchestral sounds. with the chamberlin a sound would be able to be reproduced and played again. it was originally an invention for himself and his family. he would record himself and then send it to his family. it was conceived as a "parlor instrument". it was mainly for home entertainment. bill franson offered his  services as a sales man to try and sale and make it a big thing. soon after franson stole two chamberlins and fled to england to find someone who would build more as his own idea. in the 1960s the bradley brothers (Bradmatic) started producing them. they named it the mellotron. some of the significant players included: the beatles. king crimson. moody blues. rolling stones. the zombies. pink floyd. david bowie. stevie wonder. it was presented as a "rich mans toys." the mellotron started to fall as it there wasnt much reliability for it. in the late 80s mitchell droom brought it back but soon enough it started becoming a generic sound so he stopped using it.

theories as to why the instrument didnt receive wide-spread use. and how is this similar to the theremin? it just wasn't selling enough.  they weren't making a profit from the instrument. they didn't expand there market enough. no investors.  they owed money to a lot of companies. the mellotron was similar to the theremin as where it was used as a sampler but it wasn't concerned with pitch and it would make there own loops.


this instrument introduced/preceded what significant recording technology?
this instrument introduced a way of making music with out having a instrumental talent what so ever. just by striking a key on the keyboard you would have the ability to sound like an orchestra or a band.


general time line, geography and business drama?
1948:chamberlin 100 1951:chamberlin 200 1957:chamberlin 300 1960:chamberlin400 1961:chamberlin500. 1963:MK1 is made. 1964:MK2 is made.1968:M300 is made. 1970:M400 1990-91: 1993: 1997: 1999: new version of M400 is made(MKVI).


thoughts with the goal of synthesis.
it just makes playing music a lot easier. it is a way for musicians to get really creative with there music and obtain new levels of experimental music. or its an easy way for amateurs to compose there sounds. making music has just gotten a lot easier with the improvements of synthesizers and all other modern electronic technology.

discuss mellotron vs the chamberlin...differences.
mellotron was the precursor of the chamberlin. the mellortron weighed a ton as where the chamberlin was lightweight. although the mellotron was more hi tech with a lot more tapes and changeable tapes as well. it was also built better. the chamberlin however sounded the best. it was a "beautiful source." chamberlin wanted to make an instrument whereas the mellotron wanted to sell an instrument.

john cage

 john cage (1912-92) an american composer. cage organized the project of music for magnetic tape. he worked with composers Earle Brown(1926-2002)Morton Feldman(1926-87)christian wolff(b.1934) and david tudor who all began to explore the tape medium with assistance from louis and bebe barron. cage was also associated with chance operations. he opened his mind to any and all possible sounds. pitched or unpitched it did not matter to him. he was never limited to rules. he was a musical advisor for over 40yrs with the merce cunningham dance company.  he extended the use of electronics to live performances, which were recorded later. the company also maintained cages interest in electronic music because he didnt like the typical format of magnetic tape concerts during that time.


who were the performers in the video?
there weren't really any performers. they were more engineers than anything else. just setting up the stage with all the "instruments", wires and cables. they would all walk around and that would trigger the photoelectric cells.


who was john cage in the movie?
cage was the mastermind off the performance. he would compose the people and the variables. he would bring engineers at random and add them to the stage. he created performers.


what was cages roll in relinquishing control?
he definitely had control but it wasn't as if he was a control freak. he was very chill, relaxed and laid back. he would set up everything and whatever happened he would go with it.  he just accepted the sounds from the world.


what were the instruments?
there weren't really instruments as they would set up different wires all over different places. such as a turtle tank to capture the water cleaning device, a kitchen in a busy restaurant. the cooks had no idea they were being recorded. so it wasn't staged or anything it was a live performance sort of speak. a classmate called it a "voyeur audio" which makes sense because it was as if they were eves dropping on them and enjoying the sounds that it would produce. not only that but they would take house hold appliances like a juicer or a vacuum and set them up on stage. cage would take everyday sounds and warp them.

how would you define the piece of music?
i honestly would not call it music but an art performance. they took all sources and putting them in one room. it was just a lot of organized noise and they would arrange it to there liking.


how was it more than a sound performance?
it was more than just noise or "music". there was a lot of multimedia. there were a bunch of objects to watch. the people the shadows the lights would provide. they were described as "beautiful shadows". 

2projects....schoenberg...stockhausen

• 2projects to do. we have to do a found sound project. we will need a portable recorder, an mbox, a laptop and we will be recording in mono.
• we have to choose a paradigm of one composer we have learned from so far
• we have to note the it is composed
• the limitation process: mic to laptop, it has to be in the fort ord campus or within 10 feet. it can be in buildings, we can be in a wide open space
• it has to be significant
• each samples combined have to be a total of 4min for the project
• they have to be person made objects
• for the narrative part we have to compare the limitations to the composers limitations
• 2nd project will be an in class presentation on a pre apporoved electronic subject. 10 min including a 1min audio sample
• it has to be related to class
• there are 4limitations to follow:1.living elements, voices, and animal sounds.2.noises.3.modifies or prepared instruments.4. conventional instruments(non traditional manners)
• developed 7values:1.mass-organization of sounding spectral dimension, high frequency where it lies.2.dynamics-measurable values.3.tone quality and timbre(tone).4. melodic profile-temporal evolution of tonal spectrum of sound.5.profile mass-" " spectral components of a high mass. 6.grain-analysis and irregularities. 7. pace-loud or soft it goes, analysis of the amplitude in time
• broader application, taking what we know about melody
• schaeffer had 3plans: harmonic plan-20---20k. dynamic plan-effected envelope (attack decay sustain release). melodic plan-pitch and tone
• there were to types of composition to electronic music. french and German: french were more organic and German were serial-ism, 12 tone music
• arnold shoenberg (1874-1951) inventor of 12tone music. he would take all chromatic pitches but doesnt repeat. it lead in certain direction. it has a strong sense of rhythm. 5 general rules for the rows of 12 tone music:pitches are organized in a definite order or row. no note can be played until all notes are played. row can be organized in a diff manner. one note is no more important than another note. each row can be inverted or reversed.
• Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) german composer, most important and controversial composer of 20th century
• etude 1952 first piece
• tape deck as unified time domain. in composition he felt he could manipulate time. duration can be controlled and manipulated. serialized composition, applied mathematical analysis of tones to generation, shape and deiting of the tape recorded sounds. tone generator and tape. sign waves (pure tone no harmonics)
• 1,920 hz frequency range of human voice (average) calculated frequencies and recombined individual pitches through calculations.
• studie2 1954 was the first composition for sign waves.
• stockhausen had a 4process method: unified time structure. splitting sound. multilayering spatial composition. equality of tone and noise. 
• we saw a clip of stockhausens helicopter string quartet....crazy and insane!