Click the in front of each section for an annotated version (does not include all sources).

MUSIC - ANNOTATED

David Tudor.
In the late 1960s, Tudor gradually ended his active career as a pianist. He had begun to experiment with the electronic amplification of sound in the early 1950s, and by the end of the '60s he became fully involved in the composition of "live electronic music," employing, for the most part, custom-built modular electronic devices, many of his own manufacture. Tudor's electronic works were often associated with visual forces: light systems, dance, television, theater, film or four-color laser projections. Bandoneon!, composed in 1966 for the Experiments in Art and Technology performance series, "9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering," called for lighting and audio circuitry, moving loudspeaker sculptures, and projected video images, all actuated by the bandoneon. As a Core Artist invited to collaborate on the design of the Pepsi-Cola Pavilion for Expo '70 in Osaka, Tudor worked with sculptor Robert Breer, environmental artist Robert Whitman, and light sculptor Forrest Myers, and conceived and performed new electronic pieces for the pavilion space. Tudor's "electroacoustic environment," Rainforest IV (1968-73), grew out of a workshop with John Driscoll, Ralph Jones, and video artist Bill Viola, who credits Tudor with helping him develop his approach to sound in video. Tudor's collaborations with visual artist Jackie Matisse Monnier in the mid 1970s and 1980s produced kite environments with electronic sound.

Balaban, M., K. Ebcioglu, and O. Laske, Ed. (1992). Understanding Music with AI: Perspectives on Music Cognition. Cambridge, MIT Press.
An introduction to ongoing research on music as a cognitive process. A 22-page foreword, drawn from a conversation by Marvin Minsky, presents state-of-the-art research, bringing coherence to the emerging science of musical activity. The 21 contributions, drawn from two international workshops on AI and music, explore musical activities such as analysis, composition, performance, perception, listening, and tutoring. Their goal is to ascertain how these activities can be interpreted, understood, modeled, and supported through the use of computer programs. This anthology provides an informative and timely introduction to ongoing research on music as a cognitive process, bringing a new coherence to the emerging science of musical activity. Following the foreword, which is based on a conversation with Marvin Minsky, 26 contributions explore musical composition, analysis, performance, perception, and learning and tutoring. Their goal is to discover how these activities can be interpreted, understood, modeled, and supported through the use of computer programs. Each chapter is put into perspective by the editors, and empirical investigations are framed by a discussion of the nature of cognitive musicology and of epistemological problems of modeling musical action. The contributions, drawn from two international workshops on AI and Music held in 1988 and 1989, are grouped in seven sections. Topics in these sections take up two views of the nature of cognitive musicology (Kugel, Laske), principles of modeling musical activity (Balaban, Bel, Blevis, Glasgow and Jenkins, Courtot, Smoliar), approaches to music composition (Ames and Domino, Laske, Marsella, Riecken), music analysis by synthesis (Cope, Ebcioglu, Maxwell), realtime performance of music (Bel and Kippen, Ohteru and Hashimoto), music perception (Desain and Honing, Jones, Miller and Scarborough, Linster), and learning/tutoring (Baker, Widmer). M. Balaban is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Ben-Gurion University. K. Ebcioglu is Research Scientist in the Computer Sciences Department, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. 0. Laske is a composer and President of NEWCOMP, Inc., The New England Computer Arts Association, Inc.

Barbosa, A. (2003). "Displaced Soundscapes: A Survey of Network Systems for Music and Sonic Art Creation." Leonardo Music Journal 13: 53-59.
The introduction of various collaborative tools, made possible by the expansion of computer network systems and communications technology, has led to new methods of musical composition and improvisation. The author describes a number of recent music and sound art projects involving the use of network systems that enable geographically displaced creators to collaboratively generate shared soundscapes. Various system designs, ideas and concepts associated with this interaction paradigm are presented and classified by the author.

Bennett, J. "BMB con: collaborative experiences with sound, image and space." Leonardo Music Journal: 29-34.
Discusses the Dutch audio-visual performance group BMB con., which the author founded in 1988 with Wikke 't Hooft and Roelf Toxopeus. BMB con. has since organized live performances, installations and image-and-sound works for broadcast and publication using a wide range of techniques and materials to create sounds and effects. The author describes the group's development of a methodology using digital and analogue filters and tape delays to amplify and distort sounds. He explains that BMB con. performances often incorporate unplanned events, describes how the three artists collaborate to create a performance, and examines the relationship between them and their audience. He also considers BMB con.'s use of technology, and describes some of their rare collaborative projects - with Joel Ryan, and with Geurt Grosveld and Daan Vanderwalle on the project Bice (1995-6).

Hartzell, E. and N. Sobell (2001). "Sculpting in Time and Space: Interactive Work." Leonardo 34(2): 101-107.
Abstract: The authors have experimented with the Web to develop its potential for creative, collaborative expression and to explore and sculpt the boundaries between physical space and cyberspace. Their work grew directly out of Nina Sobell's interactive video installations of the early 1970s, in which she used the medium to sculpt space and time and to create bridges for shared human experience. Their inspiration in ParkBench has been to address the physical disconnectedness of the information age by creating a safe place to congregate in cyberspace. Their work has inspired the development of new technologies, including a wireless telerobotic video camera for streaming video to the Web from remote locations.

Nilsson, H. K. "Gilbert/Lewis on some Fraudian thoughts: in search of the perfect red." Material 31: 10.
In interview, the musicians and performance and installation artists Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis discuss their work and the relationship between music and the visual arts. They comment on the distinction that is made between the visual arts and music, consider the effect of globalization and new technology on music and art, and suggest that Damien Hirst represents the visual arts' equivalent to the members of the popular music scene. They focus on the movement of artists between different artistic fields, Gilbert examines the public's reaction to his exhibitions and performances, and Lewis stresses that he does not view himself as a musician. Gilbert draws parallels between his work and that of Jake and Dinos Chapman and Damien Hirst, and concludes by making reference to his recent work in collaboration with another artist.

Tenney, J. (1963). "Sound generation by means of a digital computer." Journal of Music Theory 7(1): 24.
Tenney says he left Bell Labs in 1964 with two important things: "... six tape-compositions of computer-generated sounds, of which all but the first [Noise Study] were also composed by means of the computer ... [and] a curious history of renunciations of one after another of the traditional attitudes about music, due primarily to a gradually more thorough assimilation of the insights of John Cage." (from Computer Music Experiences)

Tenney, J. (1969). Computer Music Experiences: 1961-64. Electronic Music Reports #1, Institute of Sonology, Utrecht.
Tenney writes at length about his work at Bell Labs.

Treib, M. (1996). Space Calculated in Seconds. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
chieving for the first time his goal to use electronic media for a synthesis of the arts, Le Corbusier collaborated with the composer/architect Iannis Xenakis, the filmmaker Philippe Agostini, the graphic designer and editor Jean Petit, and the composer Edgard Varèse, whose distinguished piece Poème electronique was composed for this project. Treib explains in vivid detail the idea and development of the building design--based on the geometry of the hyperbolic paraboloid--and how this ambitious vision materialized through an innovative system of precast concrete panels, engineered by H. C. Duyster. Treib also describes the working methods of the collaborators, depicting, for example, Xenakis's frustration with designing under Le Corbusier's shadow and the tensions suffered by the Philips artistic director coordinating his company's business interests with Le Corbusier's and Varèse's artistic aspirations. This wide-ranging investigation into the Philips project also examines the role of rhythm, cinematic montage, spatialized sound, and the composition of Varèse's music. The result is an engaging exploration of artistic collaboration in the 1950s, set against the political and cultural context of a world exposition, and of the realization of ambitious architectural ideas.

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