French Electronic Canon music concrete, Pierre Schaeffer
How did people create electronic music before the advent of computers, analog synthesizers, and electric guitars? Who were the pioneers who first harnessed the power of electrons to make music, and what drove them to do so? From instruments as large as buildings to mysterious "air" oscillators, we’ll journey through the early days of electronic musical instruments. However, it’s crucial to remember that no machine, despite its complexity, is a magical solution. We must not expect our electronic devices to compose music for us. Just as good and bad music have been created using traditional instruments, the same holds true for electronic music. While computing machines are extraordinary inventions that can seem almost superhuman, they are ultimately limited by the creativity and material we provide them. Similarly, the machines we use to make music can only output what we input.
Musique Concrète, Schaeffer, Stockhausen, using recorded instruments or sounds as the source material for production.
How has the manipulation of recorded sounds shaped our understanding of music and sound? Musique concrète and early tape music invite us to reconsider the materiality of sound and the abstract nature of notated music.
"Photography, whether the fact be denied or admitted, has completely upset painting, just as the recording of sound is about to upset music… For all that, traditional music is not denied, any more than the theatre is supplanted by the cinema. Something new is added: a new art of sound. Am I wrong in still calling it music?" – Pierre Schaeffer
