MUC 3301 - Electronic Music
Musique Concrete - History and Figures
| I. Introduction |
| As technology becomes more prevalent in every facet of basic human survival, it is not at all surprising that technological advances have been created and applied to the areas that are not as important or immediate as existence. The technology that is currently used by man to entertain and interact with himself and others is advancing at an incredible rate. No body that lived one hundred years ago would have thought that people would be communicating with one another via such technologies as the video-telephone and the Internet. No one would have dreamed that two people in two different locations on the globe would be able to talk to each other in real-time. |
| Considering the above statement and also realizing that music is a human form of communication (even though one piece of music can communicate many different messages), it is no real surprise that technology has been created to aid and advance the process of composing and arranging. Never before has a wide range of timbres been made available to composers. A modern-day composer/arranger can now have access to different timbres through technologies that have been created or transformed to create electronic music. |
| It should be understood that the definition of electronic music varies from person to person. Indeed, a rock ‘n’ roll band with a line-up consisting of an electric guitarist, an electric bassist, an keyboardist using an array of electronic keyboards, and a drummer playing a 7-piece acoustic drum kit could together create “electronic music” in a liberal sense. However, electronic music refers to a type of music that is created solely by exploring the unique possibilities of electronically generated sound. While an electric guitar uses electronic amplification to be heard more clearly, an electric guitar can be played without using an amplifier (although the result will be music whose volume level is very faint and whose timbre is highly uninteresting). Therefore, the definition of electronic music is music that is solely a by-product of either electronically generated or electronically altered sound. |
| Using the above definition, electronic music has been created for over a century. While the results have been the same (i.e., music that is a created by either electronically generated or electronically altered sound), the means of creating electronic music have changed with the advent and proliferation of new technologies. To date, electronic music has gone through three distinct phases of development since its widespread acceptance as a legitimate art form (i.e., since the end of World War II). The three post-war eras of electronic music are as follows: |
| 1) Musique Concrete (1948-1964) – Musique Concrete was music that was created using tape-recorded sounds that were altered by changes in pitch, duration, and amplitude. Also known as Tape Music, the methods that were used to create Musique Concrete became obsolete with the invention of the modular synthesizer. |
| 2) Synthesizer Music (1964-1984) – While synthesizers had been around since the 1950’s, they were big (filling up an entire room), complicated, and required a high degree of maintance. In 1964, physicist Robert Moog (1934-) invented and patented a modular synthesizer that was smaller in size (though not as small as today’s synthesizers), easier to control and play (though requiring much maintance), and could be bought and assembled by a wider array of a musically-enlightened population. While analog synthesizers underwent rapid changes in design and affordability, they nonetheless when out of style with the development of purely digital synthesizers, MIDI (an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface), and later the proliferation and affordability of personal computers (PC’s) in the 1990’s. |
| 3) Digital/Computer Music (1984-Present) – While digital technologies were being implemented in analog synthesizers as early as the late 1970’s to create analog/digital hybrid synthesizers, 1984 saw the release of the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer (the first purely digital synthesizer whose sound was created using frequency modulation, or FM, technology) and MIDI. Overnight, analog synthesizers, which require periodic maintance and had “cumbersome” knobs and switches (among other things), were out and the digital synthesizers with the newly developed MIDI capabilities were in. Furthermore, computers were being sold to more and more people in the 1990’s as their cost went down and their ease of use (thanks in part to Windows operating systems) was made simpler for most of the people buying those computers. |
| It should be noted that while there are three distinct phases in the electronic music history, there has been nothing that has prevented the overlapping of these phases. Some people prefer to use tape recorders over synthesizers and computers to create electronic music. Furthermore, electronic music studios of today incorporate the technologies that were distinct in each of the three different phases of electronic music history. |
| While a mention was made of the three eras of electronic music, this report will focus solely on the history, figures and techniques of Musique Concrete. After all, it is essential to understand how electronic music got to where it is today by studying its post-WWII roots. |
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| II.
Pre-History |
| Sound is inherent to music because music is simply sound that is organized to create melodies, harmonies, and rhythms. However, these sounds were controlled [in pitch] and were therefore limited to a specific method of calibration (commonly know as tuning). For the most part, these tunings (which were divided into twelve equally tempered tones per octave) would dominate Western classical music up until the early 20th century. |
| One of the first big steps in the liberation of sound from the confines of proper structure would come in 1912 when the Italian Futurist Filippo Marinetti wrote Musica Futurista, a manifesto that sought "To present the musical soul of the masses, of the great factories, of the railways, of the transatlantic liners, of the battleships, of the automobiles and airplanes. To add to the great central themes of the musical poem the domain of the machines and the victorious kingdom of Electricity." Two years later (1914), the first concert of Futurist music took place in Milan, Italy. This “art of noises” concert created music on new types of instruments called intonarumori (“noise intoners”). Developed by Italian painter Luigi Russolo, these instruments were capable of producing six different timbral types: booms, whistles, screams, percussive sounds, and human and animal vocal sounds. While the Italian Futurist movement lost momentum following the end of World War I, it did have a lasting impact on the music of the 20th century still to come. Furthermore, the Futurist composers were the first ones to explore (and exploit) the growing relationship that was occurring between new music and modern technology. |
| Around the same time as the Futurist, the very notion of tonic was being discarded in favor of atonality. Prior to the early 20th century, it was widely accepted that every musical work that was produced in the Western world be written in a particular key. While keys could change many times through out the course of a piece (a change known by musicians as a modulation), the notes that were to be played depended on the diatonic arrangement of scale for that particular key. The main figure credited with throwing out key-centeredness altogether was Arnold Schoenberg, who began developing his 12-tone system in 1909. Pitches were no longer organized into a diatonic scale of eight notes per octave, but rather twelve tones per scale. The impact of such organization was that notes could be arranged in a harmonically dissonant manner (that is, lacking the normal aural pleasantness and resolution that is typically associated with “conventional” harmonies) but still be considered music. |
| The 12-tone revolution was only the beginning. While some composers were content with exploring new melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic possibilities within the confines of structure, others began seeking out new timbres. Some of these new timbres were created by either modifying or finding new ways to play “traditional” instruments. Other composers, however, became interested in the use of electronics to create new tone colors that had never been heard before by a concert audience. Some electronic instruments that were being developed around this time included the following: |
| Theremin – Invented in 1920 by Russian Leon Theremin, this instrument used two vacuum tube oscillators to produce pitches. Performers of this instrument would wave both of their hands over two antennas (one stick up vertically, the other curved antenna protruding from the instrument’s casing horizontally) to control both dynamics and pitch. |
| Ondes Martenot – Invented by Frenchman Maurice Martenot in 1928, this instrument utilized the same ideas as the Theremin, but instead of an antenna, a moveable electrode was used in order to produce capacitance variants. Performers of the instrument would wear a ring on one of their fingers. This ring would be passed over the keyboard to sound different notes. |
| Hammond Electric Organ – In 1929, American Laurens Hammond invented an organ that produced sounds by using 91 different rotary-electromagnetic disk generators. These disk generators were driven by a motor that was associated with gears and tone wheels. |
| While there are other electronic instruments worth mentioning, the three that are listed above have established themselves to be the most enduring (although many modifications have been made on the originals since their debut). |
| It
should also be noted that while some composers began to explore electronic
instruments, many of the solo pieces and ensemble that were written exclusively for them have not proven themselves to be lasting works in the
classical art-music cannon. The most notable exceptions might be “Fete
des belles eaux” by Olivier Messiaen, which was a piece scored for six Ondes Martenots,
and Edgard Varese “Ecuatorial” for two thermins.
Typically, these newly developed electronic instruments would be combined with
“traditional” instruments in an accepted classical setting (an electronic
instrument would be added to an orchestra, for example). If one keeps in mind
the definition of electronic music that was mentioned earlier, they would
realize that an orchestra that simply has an electronic instrument in its ranks
is not creating electronic music because pure electronic music is created solely
through the use of electronics. |
| Those composers that were searching for new timbres quickly realized the limitations and primitiveness in the pre-WWII electronic instruments. After all, a Theremin did sound very much like a bowed string instrument. Regardless, the exploration for new tone colors and the invention of new electronic instruments continued past the conclusion of the Second World War. It would not be until 1948 when these new timbres would first be created from existing and everyday sound sources and explored to their fullest potential. |
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| In October of 1948, a French radio engineer named Pierre Schaeffer would broadcast what he called “concert of noises” for the first time over the French airwaves. A composition called “Etude aux Chemins de Fer” (English translation: “Railway Etude”) would outrage a majority of the French citizens that heard this study over their radios. Some of the open-minded European composers that heard this piece, however, were intrigued enough to begin flocking to Schaeffer’s RTF electronic studio (after an invite by Schaeffer) to explore this new medium of musical expression. Some of the composers that would create begin creating works of Musique Concrete at the RTF would be Pierre Henry, Luc Ferrari, Iannis Xenakis, and Olivier Messiaen (who also brought along two of his students with him: Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez). |
| Schaeffer would collaborate with French composer Pierre Henry to not only produce some of tape works together, but also to form the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) in 1951. It was at the GRM that some of the most groundbreaking and electronic music works of the 1950’s would be produced. Among the most crucial would French-born composer Edgard Varese’s “Deserts” which was completed in 1955 at the GRM electronic music studio. However, by the end of the decade, many of those that had worked and created the critical electronic music works at the GRM had become disgruntled with tape composition. Many simply became fed-up with the painstaking labors that were required to construct Musique Concrete pieces from phonograph records and magnetic tape fragments. The efforts that were required to build tape pieces even left GRM founder Pierre Schaeffer feeling burnt-out: he formally retired from music in 1960. |
| The GRM was not the only electronic music studio around: the Columbia-Princeton Electronic music studio, set up on the campus Columbia University in 1955, was one of the first formal electronic music studios in the United States. Created and run by American Otto Luening and Russian immigrant Vladimir Ussachevsky, the Columbia-Princeton facility would be the site were many America composers would create works that surpassed those (in terms of technical sophistication and quality) that were constructed at the GRM in France. In addition to the works that were composed by the founders of the Columbia-Princeton center, the studio was also the site were many works by Milton Babbitt, Peter Mauzey, and Charles Dodge were produced. Furthermore, the Columbia-Princeton electronic music studio contained one of the first synthesizers invented: the Mark II RCA Synthesizer (built by RCA the same year the Columbia-Princeton facilities were set up). |
| Concurrently in New York, husband-and-wife Louis and Bebe Baron set up their own electronic music studio. Because it was a private studio, it was not able to receive academic grants like the Columbia-Princeton electronic music studio applied for (and got). However, the Baron studio was one of the first electronic music centers set up in the United States. Louis and Bebe Baron would create some of the first electronic music scores for film here, including the soundtrack for the movie Forbidden Planet. The Baron studio was also where American avant-garde composer John Cage pieced together his “Williams Mix,” a sound college that consisted of over 500 pre-recorded sounds. “Williams Mix” would be the first Musique Concrete work composed in by an American. |
| By the beginning of the 1960’s, Musique Concrete was all the rage in the art music world. The tape pieces had evolved significantly since Pierre Schaeffer premiered “Etude aux Chemins de Fer” in 1948. For one thing, the sounds that were on these tape pieces were now able to occupy certain places in space thanks in part to the creation of the stereo field (although stereo was not even close to the level of sophistication that it is at today). Furthermore, the technology used in creating Musique Concert had improved in quality while the imagination that was going into the construction of tape pieces was simply awe-inspiring. One composer that was utilizing the stereo field to its fullest potential while creating works of great technical skill was American Tod Dockstader. Dockstader got a job as an assistant studio engineer at Gotham Recording studios in New York. While working as an engineer during the day, Dockstader would work on his compositions at night while the studio was closed. His pieces were quick to evolve: his 1960 creation “Eight Pieces” was done in single-channel mono. A year prior to him leave the Gotham Recording facility, Dockstader completed his 46-minute tape tour-de-force “Quatermass,” a work that (among other things) foresaw the synthesizer music that was to come. While Dockstader would soon give up composition (not by choice, but because he was forbidden to work at many of the country’s academic electronic music centers or receive grants because he did not have the proper academic background), his works have gained massive critical acceptance. They also rank as some of the most alien pieces of music ever created |
| Prior to the mid 1960’s two more groundbreaking tape works were to be completed. The first piece, by German composer and frequent visitor at the GRM in the 1950’s Karlheinz Stockhausen, was entitled “Kontakte” (English translation: “Contact”). Finished in 1960, “Kontakte” was the first tape piece [of its kind] to mix recorded material with live instrumentation (optional, but provided by piano and percussion ensemble). The goal of “Kontakte” was simply to express and create a continuous field of sound deviding both noise and tone while it creating a "moment" form in composition (that is, a form without any emphasis on progression whatsoever). Just before Stockhausen’s “Kontakte” was finished, composer Edgard Varese would complete “Poeme Electronique,” a work that was commissioned for the 1958 World's Fair to take place in Brussels. “Poeme Electronique” is considered by many to be Varese’s most celebrated work. This is for good reason: it combined electronic techniques with Musique Concrete by using the altered sounds of planes, bells, and voices in tandem with electronically-generated tones. Prior to the release of “Poeme Electronique,” Edgard Varese was a composer struggling for recognition (which he deserved before ever being asked to produce “Poeme Electronique”), but afterwards, Varese’s works would be recorded and their scored would be released to a musically-literate public. |
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| IV.
Musique Concrete Declines |
| The introduction of the modular synthesizer by Robert Moog in 1964 made constructing music by splicing together and altering magnetic tape instantly obsolete. Add to that the fact that avant-classical music was declining in popularity in favor of the more back-to-tonality movement of Minimalism. Some Minimalist composers did however create Musique Concrete-influenced works by looping a portion magnetic tape. American Terry Riley composed “Music for the Gift,” a piece for the Ken Dewey play of the same name. “Music for the Gift” was one of the first pieces ever produced from a tape delay/feedback system. Using two tape recorders (each playing a loop of Chet Baker's take on Miles Davis' "So What"), “Music for the Gift” used repetition as a means of musical expression, the backbone of the rising Minimalist musical aesthetic. |
| At around the same time as Riley’s tape experiments, another American composer named Steve Reich composed two groundbreaking tape works. 1964’s “It’s Gonna Rain” and 1966’s “Come Out” were the first pieces by Reich to introduce the concept of “phasing” (a process in which two tape loops are initially lined up in unison and are moved out of phase with each other for a period of time before coming back into sync). But Reich (along with Riley) would soon abandon tape recorders and tape loops to compose works that employed more “traditional” instruments. |
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| V. The Effects of Musique Concrete |
| Given today’s technological advances, it is rather impractical to construct Musique Concrete by splicing together and altering magnetic tape. While the methods of tape music construction may be out-dated, the pieces themselves are still sound innovative and the influence of Musique Concrete can be heard in all veins of popular music. The Beatles Edgard Varese-derived “Revolution 9” and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album were some of the most successful and and well-know examples from the 1960’s and early 1970’s. And even though the tradition of incorporating sound into music continues with many underground and (to some extent) mainstream acts today, the scope of impact reaches far beyond rock ‘n’ roll. Rap music is a genre of popular music relying on pre-recorded material for a sonic backdrop. While rap takes melodies and rhythms from familiar hit songs and reincorporates them into a new setting, many rap albums, such as It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back (Public Enemy) and Three Feet High And Rising (De La Soul) take ordinary sounds and use them to create a finished product that is aurally awesome. |
| From rock to rap, techno to reggae, the effects that Musique Concrete has had on modern music of all types cannot be overstated. It was, without a doubt, a radical innovation that changed the way the world perceives music. |
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| VI. Essential Works |
| One of the great things about Musique Concrete is that the movement inspired many people, some of whom had no musical background whatsoever, to create classical art-music. All that was really required to produce works of Musique Concrete was a tape recorder, media, a splicing block and tape, a razor blade, and a lot of effort. However, not every new tape composition broke new ground or, for that matter, played for an audience. |
|
The following is a list of essential Musique Concrete that is recommended to those looking to learn and experience classical electronic music. |
| "Forbidden Planet" by Louis and Bebe Barron |
| “Fontana
Mix” by John Cage |
| “Williams
Mix” by John Cage
|
| “Apocalypse”
by Tod Dockstader |
| “Quatermass”
by Tod Dockstader |
| “Traveling
Music” by Tod Dockstader |
| “Water
Music” by Tod Dockstader |
| “Tete et Queue du Dragon” by Luc Ferrari |
| “Orphee 53” by Pierre Henry |
| “Le microphone bien tempere” by Pierre Henry |
| “Incantation” by Otto Luening |
| “Low Speed” by Otto Luening |
| “Come
Out” by Steve Reich |
| “It’s Gonna Rain” by Steve Reich |
| “Mescalin Mix” by Terry Riley |
| “Poppy Nogood” by Terry Riley |
| “Etude
aux Chemins de Fer” by Pierre Schaeffer |
| "Etude Pathetique" by Pierre Schaeffer |
| "Symphonie pour un homme seul" by Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry |
| “Kontakte” by Karlheinz Stockhausen |
| “Piece
for Tape Recorder” by Vladimir Ussachevsky |
| “Sonic Contours” by Vladimir Ussachevsky |
| “Poeme Electronique” by Edgard Varese |
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