>Microtonal is easier, so I'll start there. Most western music is based on
>a twelve-tone scale, where the octave is divided evenly into twelve notes.
Good explanation but I thought the twelve notes weren't exactly even
divisions.
>term evolves depending on who's using it and when. Electroacoustics
>generally deals with the transformation of energy between electrical forms
>and acoustical forms (is that suitably vague?), and the music I tend to
Wow, is this more abstract definition the common one? I always understood
"electro-acoustic" to be simply the classical world's term for mixing
acoustic with electric/electronic instruments, something so common outside
classical that such a term would have no use.
- -
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 09:50:06 -0400
From: "David Beardsley" <db@biink.com>
Subject: Re: two terms?
- ----- Original Message -----
From: Lang Thompson <wlt4@mindspring.com>
> >Microtonal is easier, so I'll start there. Most western music is based
on
> >a twelve-tone scale, where the octave is divided evenly into twelve
notes.
>
> Good explanation but I thought the twelve notes weren't exactly even
> divisions.
The common Western 12 note scale is in a tuning called 12 Tone Equal
Temperament.
Microtonal means small intervals, it's also a broad term for
tunings other than 12tet. Microtonal is not a style like rock, jazz or
blues,
it's just a term that describes the tuning system.
There are different types of microtonality. Harry Partch used a system
called Just Intonation, intervals from the harmonic series expressed as
ratios.
There are also other equal divisions of the octave that would be described
a microtonal: 24tet, 19tet, and 31tet are popular. So is 72tet, Joe Maneri
being one good example.
Other possibilities include non-octave scales, tunings based on phenomenon
like the Golden Ratio, and analysis of timbire.
Check my mp3.com page for some microtonal music.
* David Beardsley
* http://biink.com
* http://mp3.com/davidbeardsley
- -
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 09:58:07 -0400
From: wlt4@mindspring.com
Subject: Re: Re: two terms?
From the Grove Dictionary:
Electro-acoustic music.
Music in which electronic technology, now primarily computer-based, is used to access, generate, explore and configure sound materials, and in which loudspeakers are the prime medium of transmission (see also Computers and music, ºII). There are two main genres. Acousmatic music is intended for loudspeaker listening and exists only in recorded form (tape, compact disc, computer storage). In live electronic music the technology is used to generate, transform or trigger sounds (or a combination of these) in the act of performance; this may include generating sound with voices and traditional instruments, electro-acoustic instruments, or other devices and controls linked to computer-based systems. Both genres depend on loudspeaker transmission, and an electro-acoustic work can combine acousmatic and live elements.
æElectro-acousticÆ merely describes the technology used to provide the production tools; it does not describe the sound world or the distinctive idioms made possible by this technology. Although æelectro-acousticÆ is adopted in this article as the most appropriate generic adjective, other terms have been used either as surrogates or to represent a particular approach to the medium.
In the 1950s elektronische Musik was the term given by a group of German composers, initially working in Cologne, to music on magnetic tape consisting of sounds generated electronically (by means of oscillators, for example) û that is, music whose materials are created synthetically. The composers aimed to use electronic resources to construct timbres, thereby extending control to the structure of sound itself, and they envisaged that a musical structure would be planned before realizing it electronically. These aims only became truly viable with the arrival of the computer.
Musique concrΦte was created in Paris in 1948 by Pierre Schaeffer (soon joined by Pierre Henry). It grew out of SchaefferÆs experience in radio, but was also inspired by film soundtracks. The word æconcrΦteÆ originally conveyed the idea that the composer was working directly (concretely) with the sound material, in contrast to the composer of instrumental or vocal music who works indirectly (abstractly) using a symbolic system of notation which represents the sounds to be made concrete by instruments and/or voices. In musique concrΦte sound materials could be taken from pre-existing recordings (including instrumental and vocal music) and recordings made specially, whether of the environment or with instruments and objects in front of a studio microphone. These source sounds might then be subjected to treatments before being combined in a structure; the compositional process proceeded by experiment. Schaeffer intended that sounds should be perceived and appreciated for their ab!
!
stract properties rather than being attached to meanings or narratives associated with their sources and causes. The relationship between what sounds signify and their abstract sonic attributes lies at the heart of the subsequent development of the acousmatic music aesthetic. Musique concrΦte quickly became identified with ænaturalÆ, real-world sounds, even though concrΦte theory did not exclude the use of recorded electronic sounds.
In Paris towards the end of the 1950s æelectro-acoustic musicÆ was promoted as a better term for representing the cohabitation of the concrΦte and electronic approaches to sounds. At this stage, however, æelectro-acousticÆ referred only to music on tape. To confuse matters, as studios spread æelectronic musicÆ lost its specialized German connotations and in many countries came to be synonymous with æelectro-acoustic musicÆ as a collective term for all approaches to the medium. æElectro-acousticÆ gradually became the dominant term, although æelectronicÆ is still in use.
æTape musicÆ means simply that the music in its final form is recorded on magnetic tape. The term is closely associated with works composed in the USA in the early 1950s and has been widely used internationally ever since, although decreasingly now that tape (analogue or digital) is no longer the only final storage medium.
æComputer musicÆ entered the vocabulary when the computer became a significant compositional tool; the first attempts at synthesis took place in 1957 at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. The earliest computer music studios were distinct from (analogue) electronic music studios. Today all electro-acoustic music may be regarded as computer music, and although æcomputerÆ may not fully represent the technological means employed, the term continues to be widely used.
Since the late 1980s æsonic artÆ has been adopted to situate electro-acoustic music within a wider framework. Although electro-acoustic resources are not obligatory for creating sonic art, the term has the advantage of indicating an openness to all types of sound.
- -
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 14:03:33 -0500 (CDT)
From: Whit Schonbein <whit@twinearth.wustl.edu>
Subject: nyc friday the 26th
hello folks
once again i coming to new york city for reasons other than seeing the
city. however, i may be able to get away for one night only - the 26th of
october. the offerings at the knit fac and tonic fail to excite me. is
there something else going on that night that i ought to see? i'm
thinking anything along the downtown/erstwhile/eurofreejazz axis.
many thanks,
whit
- -
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 15:30:18 -0400
From: "Steve Smith" <ssmith36@sprynet.com>
Subject: RE: nyc friday the 26th
You've actually got two really good choices that night, off the top of my
head. Up in Harlem, Henry Threadgill will lead a large ensemble in a new
orchestral work based on Walden and Butch Morris will lead the same group in
a conduction. That's at Aaron Davis Hall at City College of New York. Down
in midtown at the Iridium (which has moved, in case you've been there before
and know where the old one was), Lee Konitz is playing with Marc Ribot and
Joey Baron - which smells like a new recording lineup to me. You could
conceivably even do both: go to the Threadgill/Morris thing first, and then
unwind with a late set by Konitz et al.
I'd love to be at the orchestral concert, but I've got a gamelan rehearsal
that night. I may well try to hit a late set at Iridium, though, since it's
not far away. (Last time I had a rehearsal, I walked down to Iridium and
caught Hank Jones...)
If anybody needs further details, drop me a line offlist.
Steve Smith
ssmith36@sprynet.com
NP - Steve Reich, 'Music for Large Ensemble' (Nonesuch)
- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-zorn-list@lists.xmission.com
[mailto:owner-zorn-list@lists.xmission.com]On Behalf Of Whit Schonbein
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 3:04 PM
To: zorn list
Subject: nyc friday the 26th
hello folks
once again i coming to new york city for reasons other than seeing the
city. however, i may be able to get away for one night only - the 26th of
october. the offerings at the knit fac and tonic fail to excite me. is
there something else going on that night that i ought to see? i'm
thinking anything along the downtown/erstwhile/eurofreejazz axis.
many thanks,
whit
- -
- -
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 15:34:13 EDT
From: JonAbbey2@aol.com
Subject: Re: nyc friday the 26th
In a message dated 10/16/01 3:06:36 PM, whit@twinearth.wustl.edu writes:
<< i'm thinking anything along the downtown/erstwhile/eurofreejazz axis. >>
not sure if it fits under those umbrellas, but I think the Boredoms are
playing the Bowery Ballroom that night, unless that's been cancelled like so
many other scheduled shows from overseas musicians.
Jon
www.erstwhilerecords.com
- -
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 15:35:45 -0400
From: "Steve Smith" <ssmith36@sprynet.com>
Subject: RE: nyc friday the 26th
According the the bulletin board at Other Music about a week ago, the
Boredoms show has indeed been cancelled. But you may want to contact the
Bowery Ballroom to verify.
Oh, but that does remind me... Whit, if you're still around on Saturday
night, that's when the Necks are playing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
And how often do THEY get over here?
Steve Smith
ssmith36@sprynet.com
NP - Steve Reich, 'Tokyo/Vermont Counterpoint' (Nonesuch)
- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-zorn-list@lists.xmission.com
[mailto:owner-zorn-list@lists.xmission.com]On Behalf Of
JonAbbey2@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 3:34 PM
To: zorn-list@lists.xmission.com
Subject: Re: nyc friday the 26th
In a message dated 10/16/01 3:06:36 PM, whit@twinearth.wustl.edu writes:
<< i'm thinking anything along the downtown/erstwhile/eurofreejazz axis. >>
not sure if it fits under those umbrellas, but I think the Boredoms are
playing the Bowery Ballroom that night, unless that's been cancelled like so
many other scheduled shows from overseas musicians.
Jon
www.erstwhilerecords.com
- -
- -
------------------------------
End of Zorn List Digest V3 #595
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