For this blog I really wanted to focus on one of the most profound musical innovations of the 20th century; that being the influence of technology in music. When we think about it, technology has always been part and parcel to the instrumental process, as an example we can look into history and see the value placed on the violins of Stradivarius and his contemporaries. What is novel in the 20th (and now 21st) century is that technology moved from something of a side relationship to an absolutely essential aspect of modern music. I thought we could look at some examples.
Essentially, the process really started with the Telharmonium. This was an electric organ that was transmitted through telephone lines into hotels’ dance rooms. The subscription to have the Telharmonium broadcast was less expensive than the dance bands the hotels used to hire; therefore there was something of a profit incentive. Below is the first part of a 3 part documentary (which you can view if you are interested).
The cold mechanical sound of the Telharmonium’s novelty wore off quickly and was soon to be replaced by ragtime, jazz and Big Band music, still, it did break ground in affirming that electronics could in fact play a role in the production of music… Enter the Russian/Soviet composer Leon Terimin and his Theremin Vox. Here was an instrument that was truly outer worldly, something that seemed to come genuinely from the future, mostly due to the method which it is played; it is the only instrument in the history of musical instruments that you don’t touch. Please see the video below:
As beautiful as the Theremin could be in the hands of a master, like Clara Rockmore, it proved somewhat difficult for the average musician to get a handle on. What was needed was an electronic instrument that could produce the beautiful voice-like quality of the Theremin, but at the same time possessed an easy to control pitch mechanism. This is where we see the introduction of the Ondes Martenot.
The Ondes Martenot is not a simple piece of machinery by any stretch of the imagination, however; the Theremin by contrast is a relatively easy and elegant design. Because of this many hobbyists (such as the gentleman from the video on the Theremin) began to build their own based on schematics they could purchase from a magazine for a nominal price. One such individual was Bob Moog who would eventually revolutionize the world with his “Minimoog” synthesizers. This would not only impact the production of classical music (such as the “Switched on Bach” album) but popular forms would never be the same either.
The keyboard synthesizer, especially the models built by Moog and company, remained the standard for electronic music production for decades. Something happened about 10 years ago though, computer engineers started to develop machines that were capable of storing massive amounts of data. Currently, the kind of music that would take a musician up to 100-1000 keyboards to do, can be done relatively easily on just one home computer. This is where the world of sampling comes in; essentially we can have our own personal orchestra sounds, synthetics, electric guitar and a host of whatever else you can imagine in one software program. I use Kontakt 3, but there are many others that exist.
The computer sampler has almost done away with the need for live musicians on projects such as film and television soundtracks (I am not really saying this is a good thing, just stating a fact). But, is there a place in modern electronic music for the hands on type of instrument? The developers of the brand new “Reactable” would say a firm “Yes,” The Reactable is absolutely an instrument of the here and now, it is a revolutionary design that does away with all previous notions of what an instrument had to look like and instead takes its design from simple voltage and amplitude control schematics. Currently there are only a few in existence, but I foresee a future where instruments such as the Reactable exist alongside the piano and violin.
I will leave you with the Reactable in action, here again is Bjork with “Declare Independence.”
Works Cited:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPlbXl81Rs0&feature=player_embedded. Retrieved Nov 23, 2009. Provided documentary on Teleharmonium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mitfv6NQJ6k&feature=player_embedded. Retrieved Nov 23, 2009. Provided Theremin video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy9UBjrUjwo&feature=player_embedded. Retrieved Nov 23, 2009. Provided Ondes Martenot video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynX6Wmvxl_8&feature=player_embedded. Retrieved Nov 23, 2009. Provided Bob Moog video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz0bSPm_Io4&feature=player_embedded. Retrieved Nov 23, 2009. Provided Kontakt 3 commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h-RhyopUmc&feature=player_embedded. Retrieved Nov 23, 2009. Provided Reactable commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHeX6yg95xU&feature=player_embedded. Retrieved Nov 23, 2009. Provided Bjork video.
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