Electronic Music Exam 3 Drop Needle

Front 1

This composition is considered to be one of the first major pieces for taped sounds and acoustic instruments. composed the instrumental parts of the composition . he recorded and manipulated the taped sections of the piece. Some of these sections were put together at the RTF studio in Paris (Schaeffer's studio). The piece was premiered in Paris (the first live radio broadcast in stereo) but ended in riotous chaos. Unlike most pieces for tape and instruments, Deserts alternates the acoustic parts with the taped parts--they are never simultaneous. So the stucture of the piece is four instrumental sections with three tape music "interpolations." The tape parts are more "concrete" (not so many electronic sounds) than "Poeme electronique," which was completed later. The piece has a harsh "industrial" sound, mostly because many of the sounds were recorded in factories.

Back 1

Varese Edgard; Deserts (1954)

Front 2

Realized at the Columbia-Princeton studio, this piece won the Pulizer Prize in music. As its title suggests, this piece is about tight synchronization between the piano and tape. The first sound you hear, for instance, is the piano playing a note. But as the piano not dies away, the tape parts picks up the sustain of the same note and then makes a crescendo on it. The interplay between piano and tape is dizzying, much of it only comprehensible with repeated listenings.

Back 2

Mario Davidovsky: Synchronism No. 6 For Piano And Electronic Sounds (1970)

Front 3

This piece is published as a text that serves as a set of instructions. Three or more amplifiers are placed on floor. The same number of microphones are suspended from the ceiling, one just above each speaker. The amplifiers are adjusted so that as the microphones swing directly over each speaker they feed back, but as they move to the side, they don't. The piece begins as the performers grab the microphones (pendulums) and pull them all the way to one side. At that time some other performers turn up the amplifiers to the predetermined level. Once the amps are turn up, the performers let go of the microphones and sit there, along with the audience, and watch them as they swing, all the time getting closer and closer to coming to rest just above each amp. Once they all come to rest over their respective amplifiers (creating a steady feedback drone in each amp), the performs pull the power cords from the amplifiers, ending the performance. This particular recording is performed by Sonic Youth.

Back 3

Steve Reich: Pendulum Music (1968)

Front 4

This piece consists of two performers playing a Tam-tam (very large gong) with various objects, while two other performers move microphones over the Tam-tam. Then two more performers process the sounds live and pan them around the audience.

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Karlheinz Stockhausen: Mikrophonie I (1964)

Front 5

Another example from "Switch-on Bach," made with a Moog modular synthesizer. Notice how this example subtly imitates real orchestral instruments.

Back 5

Wendy Carlos: Air on the G String (1968)

Front 6

Another piece created on the GROOVE synthesizer which was a product of Bell Labs.

Back 6

Emmanuel Ghent: "Phosphones" (1971)