Evening star., 1961-07-23
BY IRVING LOWENS
Star Music Critic


'f Star Music Critic
= Have you ever heard q
; Hammond organ2
Then you have listened to
electronic music.
How aboutN an electric gui-
tar?
That's electronic music
: also.
4, Hammond organs and elec-
trio guitars are among the
most familiar electronic mu-
sical instruments-there are
quite a few others, including
the famous RCA Electronic
Musical Synthesizer, which
are less known.
All, however, are brothers
under the skin.
= The organic link between
electronic instruments is the
A., means by which a sound is
produced. Usually, human
beings blow, bang, or scrape
on objects in order to make
music. Thus it was until the
10Th century, when electrical
science began to take an in
tereSt in the matter Of sound
production and a few primi-
tive instruments, such as the
Telharmonium invented by
the Iowan Thaddeus Cahill in
1867, made use of electricity
to create musical pitch.
Things didn't really get
moving, however, until the
vacuum tube got itself in
vented. Then, electronic
methods of creating sound
became quite practical, and
people began devising instru-
ments made up of those mys-
teriouS objects found in the
inSides of radio sets.
Challenge to Composers
.Electronic music, quite
simply, is music made by elec-
>tronic instruments instead of
orthodox instruments.
What is there here to raise
2anybody's blood pressure, as
seems to be happening with
shocked audiences around
the world?
It isn't the instruments
that are causing the rumpus
lit is just that people are
wondering whether the COM
poSerS who use them are
writing music or are just
organizing noise.
One of the troubles is that
while it is perfectly possible
to duplicate the unique sound
of fiddles, oboes, pianos, and
all kinds of other instru-
ments electronically, you
don't have to, and there
doesn't seem to be any good
reason why anyone should
want to.
On RCA's brainchild, you
can invent any kind of mu-
sical sound you wish, and
this can lead in rather odd
directions.
Furthermore, since the
Synthesizer is essentially an
electronic computer, you can
translate your musical ideas
to numbers, feed tapes into
the gadget. and let the ma
chine do your work. If it is
set up properly, it will write
variations on your themes
ad infinitum. It will even
compose" perfect, completely
organized tomorrow music.
Ersatz Music
There are those who say
that they don't have to use
musical pitches to create
muSic-you can do it with
any kind of concrete sound
you can capture on a tape
recorder Can electronic mu-
steal instrument, too).
It works like this:
Suppose you Snag the
sound of a frying egg on
your machine. You run the
tape through faster than
normal, and the pitch goes
UP. You slow it down and
the pitch drops. You take
your new materials, snip out
a fetching new sound, and
annplify it until it is good
and loud. Then you splice it
all together and use your
imagination to expand what
you have. You work directly
with a tape recorder or two,
never touching music paper,
and with no need for musical
notation at all.
Can this be music? There
are many, especially in
France and Germany and
some here. who say yes
with great enthusiasm. The
French even gave this sort of
electronic music a name
"musioue concrete"
The Revolution
81 You can see that this is a
far cry from the innocent
Hammond organ. The pos
sibilities for creating sound
inherent in electronic devices
make it very evident that a
revolution in music through
the vacuum tube land now
the transistor) is perfectly
feasible.
We haven't gotten to
heaven yet, however, and the
road to the other place is
paved with excellent inten-
stiOns.
Electronic music is only as
good and as imaginative as
the person who creates it. In
listening to these "mechani-
Cal" sounds we forget that
.electronic instruments are
merely the means to an end
Just as the normal instru-
mentS are a means to an end.
1t seems to me that the end