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Leonardo Music Journal, Vol. 8 (1998)
Ghosts and Monsters:
Technology and Personality in Contemporary Music
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INTRODUCTION
Pages 1-2
Ghosts and Monsters: Technology and Personality in Contemporary Music
By Nicholas Collins
ESSAY
Pages 3-4
John Cage--Ghost or Monster?
By Cornelius Cardew
ARTISTS' ARTICLE
Pages 5-11
Origins of a Form: Acoustical Exploration, Science and Incessancy
By Alvin Lucier
ABSTRACT:John Cage's use of chance operations coupled with David Tudor's
configurations of found electronic devices formed a radical departure
in twentieth-century music composition and performance. Inspired by
this collaboration, author-composer Lucier, along with composers
Robert Ashley, David Behrman and Gordon Mumma, formed the Sonic Arts
Union, a live electronic music ensemble devoted to the performance of
each other's works. The author used scientific experiments, as well
as audio test equipment, to compose works that explored the natural
characteristics of sound. Along with certain other composers,
including Robert Ashley, Tom Johnson, James Tenney and Steve Reich,
who created works in which simple procedures yielded complex results,
the author helped create a new musical form.
INTERVIEW
Pages 13-16
Composing with Shifting Sand: A Conversation between Ron Kuivila and David Behrman on Electronic Music and the Ephemerality of Technology
By Ron Kuivila and David Behrman
ABSTRACT:This dialogue between composers David Behrman and Ron Kuivila centers on the ephemerality of technology and technological innovation in
musical practice over the last 40 years. The conversation focuses on a
musical lineage that begins with the early, live electronic music of
John Cage and D.B. Tudor, the projects of Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT), the work of the Sonic Arts Union and the San Francisco Tape Music Center.
COMPOSER'S NOTEBOOK
pages Pages 17-19
not necessarily anything to do with Karlheinz
Stockhausen
(excavated from diary entries 20 February-10 November
1994)
By Richard Barrett
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
pages Pages 21-26
The Identification and Transposition of Authentic Instruments: Musical Practice and Technology
By Jonathan Impett
ABSTRACT:This article explores the idea of "authenticity" in musical practice as a function of its situatedness in technology. Two recent
developments of the trumpet are discussed--the reinvention of the
baroque trumpet and the author's design and use of a computer-extended
trumpet (the meta-trumpet) to highlight issues of historical, personal
and cultural authenticity. It is suggested that an appropriate
understanding of the technology of a given culture is necessary for
the "authentic" expression of that culture. Texts by Lyotard and
Adorno illuminate an exploration of the nature and practice of
contemporary music technology. The integration of subject and
material, and the redefinition of the relationship between "composed"
and "performed" time in music, are identified as essential and
relevant properties of this technology.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Pages 27-32
Ubiquitous Electronics--Technology and Live Performance 1966-1996
By Nicolas Collins
ABSTRACT:The author discusses the influence of sound recording on the chain of musical production from composer to acoustic artifact--in particular,
the shift of the locus of power from composer to producer. He
reevaluates Glenn Gould's predictive 1966 article, "The Prospect of
Recording," in light of the current relationship of recording to live
performance and introduces strategies for live performance in a
post-recording context.
TECHNICAL ARTICLE
pages 33-38
A Performer-Controlled Live Sound-Processing System: New Developments and Implementations of the Expanded Instrument System
By David Gamper with Pauline Oliveros
ABSTRACT:The Expanded Instrument System (EIS) is a performer-controlled
delay-based network of digital sound-processing devices designed to be
an improvising environment for acoustic musicians. The EIS emerged
from Pauline Oliveros's work dating back to the 1950s. In the last 5
years David Gamper has been developing and expanding the capabilities
of the EIS; he describes in this article how performance experience
has led to recent technical developments and relates how the current
configuration of the EIS has been used in composition, performance and
teaching activities. He also discusses why seemingly outdated analog
technologies have been retained in the EIS after adaptation to allow
computer control. The core concept of the current configuration has
proved to be flexible and adaptable to many demands, several of which
are described.
ARTIST'S ARTICLE
Pages 39-44
The Aesthetics and History of the Hub: The Effects of Changing Technology on Network Computer Music
By Scot Gresham-Lancaster
ABSTRACT:The author, a member of the group the Hub, discusses the aesthetic and performance history of the group and related San Francisco Bay Area live interactive music performance practices. The performance practice
of the Hub--interactive computer network music--is
discussed. Particular focus is placed on the impact of changes in
technology. Future applications and directions of this musical
approach are discussed.
ARTIST'S ARTICLE
Pages 45-48
Distortion Is Truth
By Robert M. Poss
ABSTRACT:In two realms of music production--the amplified electric guitar and the recording studio--archaic technology is often the state of the
art. Electric guitarists, recording engineers and producers rely upon
technology that was perfected in the 1950s and 1960s for much of their
sound-making and sound-processing needs because it provides a
desirable sonic character. The author asserts that sonic
transparency--"uncolored" sound made possible by modern solid-state
and/or digital equipment--is antithetical to musical pursuits in which
distortion itself is an essential part of the aesthetic.
ARTIST'S ARTICLE
Pages 49-54
From the Margins of the Periphery: Music and Technology at the Outskirts of the West--A Personal View
By Ricardo Arias
ABSTRACT:The author discusses the singular character of music technology as a product of Western culture and its potential in helping to understand
and articulate fundamental changes in music and its ideological
implications. He also comments briefly on the place of music
technology at the "margins of the periphery," and hints at how
technology might be approached so as to confer it meaning and context
at such junctures. Finally, the author sketches a history of music and
technology in Colombia and offers a glimpse at the role technology has
played in his own music.
CD COMPANION
Pages 55-57
CD Companion Introduction: Ghost and Monsters: Technology and Personality in Contemporary Music
Curated by Matthias Osterwold
Pages 65-74
LMJ 8 CD Companion
Ghosts and Monsters: Contributors' Notes
(excavated from diary entries 20 February-10 November 1994)
Pages 86-89
1998 Leonardo and Leonardo Music Journal Author Index
Pages 91-92Leonardo/ISAST News
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