DISCOVERING ELECTRONIC MUSIC

[Music] [Music] [Music] we live in an age of technology in which machines touch every part of our lives it is not surprising that music has also been influenced by technology we are listening to music in which every sound was created electronically the piece of electronic jazz we are now hearing which I wrote about a year ago represents one kind of electronic music but the range of possibilities is enormous extending from popular rock and roll settings to the most abstract kind of concert hall music one of the things that I enjoy most about electronic music is its immediacy the composer normally waits quite a long time between the time he puts notes on paper and here's this piece performed in a concert hall but a composer working with electronic music is more like a painter or a sculptor who works directly with his medium you hear the sounds as they are created another challenging part of electronic music is working with sophisticated electronic equipment such as computers or electronic sound synthesizers I turn to electronic music mainly because I found I couldn't get the kinds of sounds are wanted with live players and ordinary instruments I wanted very fast running passages and complicated rhythms which players can't perform I [Applause] [Music] wanted pitches which lie in between the pitches of irregular instruments and I wanted particularly sound qualities which no instrument or combination of instruments can readily produce one of the consequences of the new types of sound is that the old notation using notes on staffs simply doesn't work anymore we find that we have to introduce an entirely new sort of notation which often takes the form of graphs I enrolled in college both as a music major electronics major shortly after enrolling I left college to join a jazz recording artist to program electronic music this led me into composing for motion pictures using computer technology this technology is revolutionizing music on machines like this any conceivable sound can be taken as raw material and can be combined and build up to create soundtracks ranging from sound effects to space music to find out how electronic music is created let's first learn how sounds are produced on conventional musical instruments when a string on a string bass is made to vibrate or oscillate a sound is produced by changing the length of the oscillating strings with the left hand the instrument produces different pitches [Music] oscillations are also occurring in the air column inside the flute when fingers are raised and lowered the rate of oscillation is changed and so is the pitch the flute sound can be picked up by a microphone and changed into an electric current that also oscillates this electronic oscillation can then be shown it forms a wave pattern we are looking at a machine called an electronic sound synthesizer the synthesizer can create and alter sounds built into the synthesizer are a number of oscillators these oscillators produce sound electronically each oscillator produces a different kind of sound with a different waveform this is a sine wave another oscillator produces a triangular wave a square or pulse wave [Music] and a sawtooth wave [Music] the pitch or rate of oscillation of each waveform can be controlled [Music] can also be controlled on the synthesizer by using a fingerboard [Music] or a keyboard [Music] by mixing waveforms richness and variety of sound can be achieved [Music] [Applause] [Music] each musical instrument makes a distinctive sound this is because of the waveform the instrument produces and by the way it envelopes sound enveloping has to do with how abruptly each note begins and ends on the sound synthesizer it is possible to create and alter envelopes here is a note with an abrupt beginning and end to create an envelope for the sound a beginning next and ending or decay is attached [Music] as well as envelope the synthesizer can also filter sound let's listen to how this jet noise can be altered when parts of it are filtered or removed one filter removes the high parts of the cell allowing only the low end to pass with another filter the low sounds are removed by using both filters at once it is possible to allow only a narrow band of sound to pass this band can be moved down or up by connecting the keyboard to the filters a melody can be played by filtering the jet noise musical instruments can be imitated on the synthesizer by creating and mixing waveforms and filtering and envelope in these sounds since the string bass makes low sounds the filter is used which removes hi then different waveforms are tried out [Music] [Music] [Music] next an envelope is added a sharp attack and a slower decay [Music] now let's listen as the sound synthesizer imitates the koto a Japanese instrument [Music] [Music] with the modern digital sound synthesizer the actual sounds of musical instruments can be pre-recorded and stored in the computer for later use here is a pre-recorded trumpet sound the sound can be displayed visually on the machine in various ways the pitch of the trumpet sound can be controlled on the keyboard the sound of the violin or any other instrument can be manipulated the same way [Music] any sound can be recorded and manipulated by the digital synthesizer one two three one two three one two three what what one two one two three let's listen to the synthesizer as it is played and then as it changes the sounds of musical instruments [Music] [Applause] the sounds made by musical instruments can be picked up by microphones and fed into the synthesizer the operator of the synthesizer can then alter or process the sounds of these instruments by using filters and changing envelopes and waveforms [Music] we are listening now to the processed or altered sound often it is difficult for a person to control a complicated sound synthesizer quickly enough a computer can take over much of this control work and do it more quickly and accurately than a human being the composer is telling the computer what kind of sounds he wants using computer language he is describing a melody he wants to use in a composition this melody by Bach is one we've already heard the computer can help manipulate this melody in many ways by using a switch the composer can instruct the computer to play the melody backwards or upside down he can change the pitches [Music] he can play loudly or softly or fast and slow [Music] [Laughter] [Laughter] [Music] the computer built into the modern digital sound synthesizer makes it possible for the musician to compose pieces quickly by using a light pen the composer is telling the computer what pre-recorded sounds he wants to use he can easily add or subtract instruments pitches and rhythms [Music] [Music] through the use of synthesizers and computers it is possible to imitate change and create sound a whole new world of creative possibilities has been opened to the musician by electronic music [Music]