By the mid-1950s technology had begun to permit the use of computers, synthesizers, and the tape recorder to help composers gain total control over compositon. With the use of technology, the composer could bypass the “middleman,” the performer, completely.

     An early approach to electronic music was musique concrète, which was an approach using magnetic tape. Natural sounds were recorded and then manipulated by the composer in a variety of ways. Sounds could be distorted by changing the speed of the tape. The tape could be edited. The composer could cut the tape into segments and splice the fragments together in different order, or even backward.

     Synthesizers and computers generate their own sounds. The sounds can duplicate acoustic instruments or other natural sounds. Without having to rely on a live musician, the composer has complete control of the musical elements. Many contemporary film and television composers produce their soundtracks on computer.

    One of the pioneers of electronic music was the French born Edgard Varèse. His musical philosophy was that music was simply organized sound--any sound. Varèse composed in a variety of styles by using musique concrète, electronic music, and by combining live musicians with electronic sounds.

     In spite of the availability of technology, audiences are still interested in live performance by live musicians using traditional acoustic instruments. Orchestras did not change significantly over the twentieth century. Except for the occasional inclusion of a popular instrument like the guitar or saxophone, the instrumentation is not much different than that which Brahms encountered.

     One of the most successful, more traditional composers of the last half of the twentieth century is Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Born and raised in Miami, she studied composition at Juilliard School and was the first woman to receive the Doctor of Musical Arts degree there. Her Symphony no. 1 won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1983 (another first for a woman).

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. One of the earliest electronic devices to produce music was the theremin. This machine was the invention of a Russian cellist and electronics engineer, Leon Sergeivitch Termen, who built the first such machine in 1917. Over several years, he perfected the Theremin, which was a box on four legs with a metal loop on one side and an antenna on the other. The performer could control pitch by waving a hand up and down the antenna; volume was controlled similarly with the metal loop.

2. Columbia University in New York, in collaboration with Princeton University, became the first academic institutions in the United States to found an electronic music studio. The original studio was developed by Otto Leuning and Vladimir Ussachevsky with the help of a Rockefeller Foundation Grant. The studio, now called the Columbia University Computer Music Center, is still operating.

3. Although electronic music is sometimes unpleasant, it is possible to create natural sounds digitally with today’s technology. Synthesizers are capable of creating a variety of sounds. They can sound like stringed instruments or wind instruments with the push of a few buttons. Some electronic instruments are so sophisticated that it is impossible to tell whether the sounds they create electronically are produced by human or machine. Some musicians have long-range concerns about the possibility of their being replaced by computer-generated sounds.

FURTHER QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

1. What is your initial reaction to “Poème electronique”? Does this piece cause you to rethink your definition of music?

2. In order to better appreciate avant garde music, the student should focus on the composer’s intention. Is this music meant to entertain or does it have some other purpose?

3. Ask students to compare Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s symphony with earlier symphonies.