Varese's Ionisation and Ecuatorial

Electronic music of the 1930s to Keith Fullterton Whitman’s album Multiples in 2005.

Apr 18, 2006

Electronic music relies on different techniques and concerns than traditional acoustic music, most notably the exploration of sound color.

The aesthetics of electronic experimental music go at least as far back as French composer Edgard Varèse (who actually produced much of his work in the United States in his quest to develop an American style of music).

Music that is electronically composed relies less on hummable melody and supporting harmony as the basis of composition and instead develops musical textures, looking to exploit color and timbre. Since every frequency of sound has a specific resonance that can produce further vibrations, the combination of all these vibrations (sound waves) can be manipulated in order to produce unusual effects.

Traditional rhythm is replaced by duration as the pacing is determined by precise time units measured in seconds rather than in beats measured by gestures (such as hand clapping or foot tapping). The result is music that sounds like floating, dissolving eddies of sound, because the changes in timbre are less predictable to the human ear than traditional, acoustic music and thus appear to lack direction.

Varèse's Ionisation (1929-31), while not an electronically produced work, is perhaps the composer's most well-known piece and utilizes new sound timbres such as the siren (the same kind of device used for fire alarms or police warning systems).

Later compositions would more fully develop the manipulation of sound with electronic instruments: Ecuatorial (1932-34) incorporated the theremin, an electronic instrument that is played by wearing special gloves and waving one's hands in front of the motion sensitive antennae on the instrument.

Steve Reich later experimented with tape recordings and mixes, taking acoustic sounds and electronically manipulating the vibrations or else simply splicing the recorded sounds together in new combinations (much like film editing). In more recent times, Keith Fullterton Whitman's album Multiples (2005) draws upon this heritage of electronic music technique.

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