Delian Mode  - Delia Derbyshire Constructing Electronic Music In 1963!
Channel: Online Art Factory
Date: 10/07/2021

Delia Derbyshire (5 May 1937 – 3 July 2001) was an English musician & pioneering composer of electronic music. She is best known as the uncredited composer of the original 1963 Doctor Who theme music. This is widely regarded as a significant and innovative piece of electronic music, recorded well before the availability of commercial synthesizers. Delia Derbyshire and assistant Dick Mills of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop used musique concrète techniques to produce a score written by composer Ron Grainer.

They call her the godmother of electronic music for inventing sounds we take for granted today. She was light-years ahead of her time. Her compositions were masterfully produced with the precision of an advanced mathematician, which she was. Although Delia said "the radio was my education", she was accepted at both Oxford and Cambridge, "quite something for a working class girl in the 'fifties, where only one in 10 [students] were female".  She also won a scholarship to study mathematics at Girton College, Cambridge and achieved some success in the mathematical theory of electricity. After her first year at Cambridge she switched to music, graduating in 1959 with a BA in mathematics and music with a specialization in medieval and modern music history.

Her innovations producing electronic music are absolutely genius. She was the first to ask to work in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, where it was considered a punishment at the time because it was thought that exposure to the sounds and frequencies produced there was a possible risk to mental health. Where others heard reverberation and chaotic noise, Delia heard bits of music she could extract and create pleasant harmonious musical compositions. She found her inspiration in sounds from every aspect of her life. In the movie about her artistry, the Delian Mode, she credits the “air-raid” and “all-clear” sirens of her youth as one of her first major inspirations. She, in turn, influenced countless musicians including Aphex Twin, the Chemical Brothers and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital.

"I did rebel. I did a lot of things I was told not to do." -- Delia Derbyshire


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Bibliography by Kara Blake 2009.