dtmpct

Hello Mr. Carroll -

I have recently become very interested in electronic music. I have been listening to a lot of Stockhausen, Boulez, Berio, Xenakis, etc. It seems to be an entire world of music that has never been exposed to me, so I am very excited, and would really like to learn more about it. The problem is, I really have no idea whatsoever where to learn about electronic music...i literally know nothing (really) about it, and simply don't know where to start. Are there any books or anything that you would recommend to facilitate learning about this. I would really love to get into trumpet and electronics, but I feel I should have an understanding about the genre before I begin to attempt to perform anything.

ecarroll

Hi dt,

Wow. . . where to start? A simple google search will reveal many sources. There are as many types of "electronic music"s as there are in conventional fields. It's also something that has been around for a long time.

You might want to start by reading a bit on the aesthetics of music. Cage and Busoni come instantly to mind.

Tell us who you are and what brought you to this subject?

Welcome to TM,
EC (and it's Ed, by the way)

Vulgano Brother

Welcome to TM, dtmpct!

Start by checking out "musique concrète", then perhaps "Robert Moog," "Arp 2600" "Walter Carlos" (or "Wendy Carlos") "Tom Oberheim" with a search engine. It should provide you with some interesting links!

__________________
www.letsbuildhope.org

dtmpct

Thank you, Ed and Vulgano Brother for your suggestions - I will look into each of them.

I am a trumpet student at Northwestern - I have been trying to put together a recital that I would like to contain some more contemporary pieces. In my quest for newer works for trumpet, I found "Aries" by Stockhausen - needless to say, this piece really intrigued me. From this I started listening to some of Boulez's and Berio's electronic works...knowing completely nothing about this genre of new music, I would really like to find out more about it.

ecarroll

dt,

I stand by my suggestion that you read first on the aesthetics of music. Once engaged on that level the sonic possibilities of playing with electronics are endless.

ARIES is difficult and made even more so by Stockhausen's insistance that his scores be memorized -- not a daunting goal if you plan to add the work to your performance repertoire, but hard if it's a one-off. KH was, as you probably know, an absolute stickler for every single detail in the score. I'd suggest that you spend hours just looking at it before putting your horn on your face.

...an interesting development is pending for those of you into KHS' music: As many of you know, Markus left his father's music almost 8 years ago. Since KH's death last winter he has been thinking about it once again and suggested to me at Chosen Vale recently that he may be coming back to it. If so, he suggested a day devoted to Stockhausen's music at the '09 seminar -- an idea that I quickly embraced. Stay tuned.

Best to Barbara & Charlie (old, old friends from my Chicago days),
EC

Vulgano Brother

Sorry--rant coming!

I believe there is a huge niche for trumpet (or other solo instrument) and synthesizer--rock bands have been integrating acoustical and electronic instruments for decades; Don Ellis, Miles and Chase all pulled it off in the jazz world. My experience has been that organists and pianists have a uniform dislike for the sounds that come out of an "electronic box." If I had my druthers, I would require all classical keyboard players to spend at least a semester experimenting with and realizing "classical" music (the genre and not the style) with synthesizers. As long as I'm getting my druthers, I'd like to see all wind players spend a semester messing with electronic instruments as well.

I had the good fortune to take an independent study class with the professor who supervised the development the first polyphonic synthesizer (yeah, only four voices, but--wow!), and I learned so much more messing around in a lab with attack, decay, sustain and release parameters; messing with filters and generators than I ever did listening to the works of Cage and others.

I dunno. Working with sound like that did effect my ears, I suppose, knowing that there is an infinite variation for Klanfarben ("Tone colors" in English, but the German makes more sense in one of those weird ways that foreign languages sometimes do.), allowed me to....ahh, gee, how to describe...allowed me to find that middle way that kept the style intact but allowed a bunch of expression. It causes missed notes sometimes, but those magical moments seem worth it.

WARNING: THE REAL NASTY PART OF THE RANT!

What I despise is "pre-programming:" be it on a CD or as MIDI information in a computer! I can't stand "background tracks" in performance--it would be like going to a concert to hear Ed play with a "Music Minus One" record. (Hope you never do it in my neighborhood, ED!)

And now the thesis--there is no real difference between live acoustic or live electronic music, and I believe the two are fully compatible, provided that the electronic sounds are allowed to speak with their own voice, and not as a copy of something else.

Sorry if I've spoken out of turn, but, uhh, I do feel strongly about electronic music.

More than a bit.

__________________
www.letsbuildhope.org

mahaberio

Hi dt,

First I'll echo what Ed and Vulg said.

The world of electronic music is huge and it's one worth exploring. Aries is a a great piece and there is plenty more Stockhausen worth exploring. Is there an electronic music course available to you at Northwestern? Generally these go through some history, important composers, and a lot of hands-on stuff; which is definitely valuable if you plan on performing it. With programs such as Max/MSP the possibilities are literally endless.

Once you've versed yourself a bit in electronic music, here are some pieces you might find worth looking into:

Jonathan Harvey-Ricercare sopra una melodia

Karlheinz Stockhausen-Donnerstag Abschied (this piece can be performed as a trumpet ensemble work or one live trumpet with pre-recorded trumpets and would be a great introduction to this process)

James Mobberley-Icarus Wept

All of these works are by MAJOR composers and time should be spent exploring their music. Another great thing you can do is work with composers. There's really no better way to learn about this music. I think once you really delve into this stuff you'll find it even more fascinating.

-Matthew

CGUM

Dt,

You should definitely read some of Cage's writings, some of the collected lectures get a little "out" (not a slight or criticism) since the lectures were more happenings then standard collegiate lectures. There is an interesting book detailing some letters and conversations between cage and feldman.

The field is pretty wide at this point you might want to pick a few big composers like varese and stockhausen and read up on them. There are several books out on stockhausen and varese. By starting on smaller scale you might be able to find your own path through electronic music.

If you want to read about the mechanics of electronic music Miller S.Puckette wrote a text which is heavy duty but to get the nuts and bolts it's the tops.

As far as music is concerned you're at northwestern. Your library has a pretty good selection of electroacoustic music. I found some interesting scores on several trips down there. Also there are also a lot of electronic music going on in the midwest and even though it might not be trumpet rich it's still would be educational to see what is going on NOW.

I do agree with vulgano and really don't like the whole performing with the cd. I haven't come to terms with it: part of me would rather have a live electronic accompaniment and no cd, but at the same time how else can you perform some of this music? I mean the composer seems okay with it and they must have had a performance with cd in mind...eh, I don't know.

well, good luck with this.

PS Ed...hearing that about Markus makes me really want to attend CV....amazing

__________________
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

bigtiny

Familiarizing oneself with electronic music involves learning about the music, the composers, the history of the music and composers, and just as importantly, the multiple technologies and techniques used throughout the history of this music.

Listening:

-OHM: Early Gurus Of Electronic Music - a multi CD set of historic pieces from the electronic music continuum

-cage
-stockhausen
-xenakis
-babbit
-wendy carlos
-varese (poem electronique)

many others....you'll find more by reading and listening

Reading:

I don't have any specific reading recommendations, however, a visit to a library should yield some academic texts. I know there's one by Jon Appleton, but I've forgotten the name of it. Obviously the internet will having a lot of material and probably some pointers to some texts.

Technology:

-reading (see above)
-listening (see above)

Get some instruments and/or a laptop and start building a studio with which to make your own pieces. It's never been easier or more cost effective.

good luck,

bigtiny

mahaberio

Let's revive an old thread. I stumbled upon this video on youtube from Stockhausen's lectures on electronic music and thought it very relevant. Enjoy.



-Matthew