Tape music is an integral part ofmusique concrète, which uses thetape recorder as its central musical source. The music can utilise pre-recorded sound fragments and the creation of loops, which can be altered and manipulated through techniques such as editing and playback speed manipulation.[2] The work ofHalim El-Dabh is perhaps the earliest example of tape (or, in this case,Wire recording) music. El-Dabh'sThe Expression of Zaar, first presented in Cairo, Egypt, in 1944, was an early work usingmusique concrète–like techniques similar to those developed in Paris during the same period. El-Dabh would later become more famous for his work at theColumbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, where in 1959 he composed the influential pieceLeiyla and the Poet.[3]
ComposerJohn Cage's assembly of theWilliams Mix serves as an example of the rigors of tape music. First, Cage created a 192-page score. Over the course of a year, 600 sounds were assembled and recorded. Cut tape segments for each occurrence of each sound were accumulated on the score. Then the cut segments were spliced to one of eight tapes, work finished on January 16, 1953. The premiere performance (realization) of the 4'15" work was given on March 21, 1953, at theUniversity of Illinois, Urbana.[4]
In Cologne,elektronische Musik, pioneered in 1949–51 by the composerHerbert Eimert and the physicistWerner Meyer-Eppler, was based solely on electronically generated (synthetic) sounds, particularlysine waves.[5][6][7] The beginning of the development ofelectronic music has been traced back to "the invention of thevalve [vacuum tube] in 1906".[5] The precise control afforded by the studio allowed for what Eimert considered to be the subjection of everything, "to the last element of the single note", toserialpermutation, "resulting in a completely new way of composing sound";[8] in the studio, serial operations could be applied to elements such as timbre and dynamics. The common link between the two schools is that the music is recorded and performed through loudspeakers, without a human performer. The majority of electroacoustic pieces use a combination of recorded sound and synthesized or processed sounds, and the schism between Schaeffer's and Eimert's approaches has been overcome, the first major example beingKarlheinz Stockhausen'sGesang der Jünglinge of 1955–56.[9][10]
Circuit bending is the creativeshort-circuiting of lowvoltage, battery-poweredelectronic audio devices such asguitar effects, children'stoys and smallsynthesizers to create new musical instruments and sound generators. Emphasizing spontaneity and randomness, the techniques of circuit bending have been commonly associated withnoise music, though many more conventional contemporary musicians and musical groups have been known to experiment with "bent" instruments.[11]
Important centers of research and composition can be found around the world, and there are numerous conferences and festivals which present electroacoustic music, notably theInternational Computer Music Conference, the international conference onNew Interfaces for Musical Expression, the Electroacoustic Music Studies Conference, and theArs Electronica Festival (Linz, Austria).
There have been a number of festivals that feature electroacoustic music. Early festivals, such asDonaueschingen Festival, founded in 1921, were some of the first to include electroacoustic instruments and pieces. This was followed byONCE Festival of New Music in the 1950s, and since the 1960s, there has been a growth of festivals that focus exclusively on electroacoustic music.
Alongside paper presentations, workshops and seminars, many of these events also feature concert performances or sound installations created by those attending or which are related to the theme of the conference / symposium.
Morawska-Büngeler, Marietta. 1988.Schwingende Elektronen: Eine Dokumentation über das Studio für Elektronische Musik des Westdeutschen Rundfunk in Köln 1951–1986. Cologne-Rodenkirchen: P. J. Tonger Musikverlag.
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. 1996. "Electroacoustic Performance Practice", translated byJerome Kohl.Perspectives of New Music 34, no. 1 (Fall): 74–105.
Ungeheuer, Elena. 1992. "Wie die elektronische Musik „erfunden" wurde...: Quellenstudie zu Werner Meyer-Epplers musikalische Entwurf zwischen 1949 und 1953."Kölner Schriften zur Neuen Musik 2, edited byJohannes Fritsch andDietrich Kämper. Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne.ISBN3-7957-1891-0.
Guérin, François. 1983.Les musiques électroacoustiques. À l'écoute de la musique d'ici 2. Montréal: Centre de musique canadienne. [N.B.: Bibliographical list of Canadian electro-acoustic works.] Without ISBN.
Heifetz, Robin Julian. 1989.On the Wires of Our Nerves: The Art of Electroacoustic Music. Cranbury, New Jersey: Associated University Presses.ISBN0-8387-5155-5.
Kahn, Douglas. 2001.Noise, Water, Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.ISBN0-262-61172-4.
Licata, Thomas (ed.). 2002.Electroacoustic Music: Analytical Perspectives. Contributions to the Study of Music and Dance, 0193-9041; no. 63. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.ISBN0-313-31420-9.
Manning, Peter. 2004.Electronic and Computer Music. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-514484-8 (hardback)ISBN0-19-517085-7 (pbk).
"Electroacoustic Bibliography" published ineContact! 8.4 – Ressources éducatives / Educational Resources (Montréal:CEC), an annotated list of journals publishing articles related to electroacoustics.
