Electronic Music

Nick Collins · Margaret Schedel · Scott Wilson

May 2013 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

This accessible Introduction explores both mainstream and experimental manifestations of electronic music. From early recording equipment to the most recent multimedia performances, the history of electronic music is full of interesting characters, fascinating and unusual music, and radical technology. Covering many different eras, genres and media, analyses of works appear alongside critical discussion of central ideas and themes, making this an essential guide for anyone approaching the subject for the first time. Chapters include key topics from synth pop to sound art, from electronic dance music to electrical instruments, and from the expression of pure sound to audiovisuals. Highly illustrated and with a wide selection of examples, the book provides many suggestions for further reading and listening to encourage students to begin their own experiments in this exciting field.

About the author

Nick Collins is a lecturer at the University of Sussex. A composer, performer and researcher in the field of computer music, his research interests include machine listening, interactive and generative music, and computational musicology. He co-edited The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music (2007) and The SuperCollider Book (2011) and wrote the Introduction to Computer Music (2009). Further details, including publications, music, code and more, can be found on his website: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/nc81/index.html.

Margaret Schedel is an Assistant Professor of Music at Stony Brook University. A composer and cellist specialising in the creation and performance of 'ferociously interactive media', she sits on the boards of 60x6, the BEAM Foundation, the ICMA, and Organised Sound. She has edited issues of the Journal of Visual Culture on Sound Art and Organised Sound on Visual Music. In 2009 she won the first Ruth Anderson Prize for her interactive installation Twenty Love Songs and a Song of Despair. Her research focuses on gesture in music, and the sustainability of technology in art. She serves as Co-Director of Computer Music and is a core faculty member of cDACT, the consortium for digital art, culture and technology.

Scott Wilson is a Senior Lecturer in Composition and Live Electroacoustic Music at the University of Birmingham. Primarily a composer, his works have been presented internationally, and include compositions for both instrumental and electroacoustic forces, as well as multimedia pieces. He has been active in the development of software for use with Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre, the Music Department's loudspeaker orchestra, and in developing new approaches for large-scale multichannel electroacoustic composition. He is also involved in the development of the SuperCollider computer music language and was co-editor of The SuperCollider Book, with Nick Collins and David Cottle.