Historical Overview of Electronic Music

Electronic Music

The creation and enjoyment of music has been a part of our collective human culture since long before the beginnings of recorded history. It is believed that once upon a time even cavemen and Neanderthals were able to create music using their prehistoric instruments and technologies. Archaeologists and historians have discovered remnants of musical instruments in dig sites from all across the globe. The various instruments or what may or may not have at one time been instruments, that have been found at each of these locations have been a reflection of the culture in which it was used. As modern culture is reflected in current musical interests, so too the cultures of past civilizations have been reflected in the instruments and music that those cultures had left behind. Part of the culture invariably involves the tools and available materials that the population would utilize in order to create music. As with all advancements that are made in technology that man has made, music has changed to incorporate the new devices and techniques. Perhaps the most important invention of the modern age was the concept of harnessing electricity so that it could be used for personal and professional enterprises. It wasn't long before scientists began experimenting with utilizing electricity to create music. Since the advent of electricity as a common utility, the world of music and musical instruments has been forever altered.

There are two classifications of electrical instrumentation: electronic musical instruments which use the production of electromechanical sounds (e.g. The electrical organ or the electric guitar) and instruments which produce electrical sounds (e.g. The Theremin, sound synthesizer, or computers which are capable of producing either musical or vocal sounds). Some of the most common examples of electronic musical instruments that are still in use today are the electric guitar, the electric keyboard, and the electric piano. However, these are nowhere near the only electric instruments that are in existence. Currently, there are electronic variations of almost all available musical instruments. The difference between electric musical instruments and instruments which produce electrical sounds is that the former type is an instrument that could function without the utilization of electronics, but is changed or improved by the incorporation of electrical or computer technology, whereas the second type requires electrical mechanics in order to create sound. Both types of electrical instrumentation are important to the history of music as a whole.

Perhaps the most popular electrical instrument still in use today is the electric guitar which was patented in 1931 (see figure 1). There are, however, patent applications in existence from as early as the 1910's and 1920's which show that musicians and inventors were using telephone transmission parts and using them in violins, banjos, and other stringed instruments. This was done in order to attempt to amplify the sound of the instruments from their natural state. The credited inventor of the modern electric guitar is George Beauchamp, who received a patent in 1931. In 1948, the first solid body guitar was invented by Les Paul (Hunter 2007). The difference between the former types of guitars and the solid body guitars is that the latter allows for sound to be amplified and produce stronger string vibrations. This type of body design stops the instrument from producing what is referred to as "wolf sounds." These things that are called wolf sounds are actually the hollow sounds that make echoes in the wooden bodies of the instrument. A solid body guitar prevents these echoes from affecting either the recordings or the performance of the instrument. In order to function, the electric guitar uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction. This process means that the induction changes the vibrations of the metal strings into electrical signals. The signals vary depending on which metal string is hit by the person playing the guitar. However, unlike a traditional guitar, the instrument does not make music just from the plucking of strings. Instead, the signal that is made from the electric signal has to be directed elsewhere. The signal that is produced is very weak upon initial strumming. It requires the use of an amplifier which is attached to the guitar through a chord. The amplifier allows other people to hear the sound generated from the playing of the guitar. Since it is an electrical signal and because it is caused by vibrations, the music can be easily modified using different reverberations or distortions of the vibration. These are done through the amplifier or through the using of other electric or computerized systems, such as sound boards.

Now utilized in almost every musical genre, the electric guitar has only recently gained attention as a viable musical instrument. First seen by most musicians as nothing more than a novelty or a plaything, the electric guitar shortly became a respected instrument used both by amateur and professional musicians. The electric guitar gained popularity during the later 1930s and early 1940s with the popularization of both jazz and big band music. Both genres featured fast, up-temp music with relatively loud instrumentation. The electrical instruments, particularly the electric guitar, were capable of creating the right sounds, keep the tempo, and feature the decibel levels appropriate for the genre. With the continued success of those genres of music, more people learned how to play the new instruments in order to be successful both financially and artistically.

The electric piano, electric keyboard and electric organ are all similar instruments in terms of body, construction, and sound. All three are keyed instruments which create varying sounds which depend upon the key that is hit by the player of the instrument. Also, all three have a similar musical scale wherein notes on the left are much lower notes and ascend in tone as the keys proceed right. Both the electric piano and the electric organ traditionally use wires and tension in order to produce sounds. The player presses a key which corresponds to a set of wires in the body of the instrument. Inside the bodies of the instruments are feet which hit the wires and this creates the music. Their electronic versions, on the other hand, use the electrical technology to mimic the sounds of their more traditional counterparts. The Wurlitzer Company became the premiere manufacturer of electronic organs throughout the 1950s, '60s, and '70s until the instrument became less popular and ultimately less profitable (see figure 2). The Wurlitzer Company would also manufacture other electronic instruments, such as the drum machine which is discussed further on. The older models of electrical instruments have a decidedly hollow sound to them where it is evident that the technology has not yet mastered the ability to copy the "real thing." It is more difficult to tune the older models of the instruments than their traditional counterparts, which could be why the present sound of older models has this hollow, antiquated sound to them. However, more modern examples of the electric pianos and keyboards have become so advanced that it is virtually impossible to tell the variances apart. There have been other additions and innovations that have been applied to keyboards and pianos as technology has progressed. Some modern electrical pianos and keyboards have highly advanced computer technologies, including the ability to instantly record the musical performances in real-time.

Figure 2 Figure 3

One electronic instrument that has been making a recent comeback is the drum machine, mentioned earlier. One version that has had a lot of publicity lately is the Roland brand TR-808 (Anderson 2008). This model has been around for decades and is still being used by modern performers in new music. The drum machine is a specialized computer which is specifically designed to emulate the various rhythms and sounds of percussion instruments (see figure 3). The first of these drum machines is reported to have been created by one Leon Theremin who will be discussed in more detail later on with the instrument that is named after him. This early version of the drum machine which was developed in 1932 was capable of playing up to sixteen different rhythms. What was so remarkable about the drum machine was that even this early model was able to duplicate both human sounds and to provide rhythmic backgrounds for other artists without the need to carry around such cumbersome materials as heavy percussion instruments. The Theremin drum machine was capable of creating sounds that otherwise would have required the need for multiple musicians and the playing of multiple instruments as well. For about a decade, from between 1998 and 2008, the drum machine fell out of usage. In recent time, the use of the drum machine had a revitalization, in part because of famous performer and musical composer Kanye West who used the Roland TR-808 in his release, 808s and Heartbreak (West 2008). Kanye West claimed that he chose to use this particular drum machine because it had a more "tribal" sound. This can be understood to mean a more intense percussive sound than other versions of the drum machines.

Electric technology and music have been closely associated since the discovery of usable electronic power. As early as the 1850s, French inventors were looking into ways in which music could be recorded for posterity. However, it would not be until Thomas Edison's invention of the phonograph in 1878 that recorded music would be able to be played back at the discretion of the listener (Rosen 2008). Edison famously recorded himself reciting "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and then played it back. A perfect duplicate of his voice was recorded for the world to hear. This was a revolution for the music world, creating the industry of music production as we know it today. Before the phonograph, people could hear music only in the moment in which it was produced. The phonograph made it possible to record music and listen to it at the discretion of the hearer. An entire industry was created by this one invention. An industry that today is worth literally billions of dollars.

By 1907, scientists and musicians alike were seeing the potential for the growth of the industry through the use of electronic means. Electronics allowed for the discovery of microtonal scales. This, some felt, would be the basis for experimentation and musical creation for years to come. As creation of new instrumentation had led to musical exploration in the past, the utilization of electronics in music would alter the future. Composer and famed conductor Ferruccio Busoni (1907) wrote that music was not a stagnant thing and we should embrace the potential that electronic music afforded. Although some more traditionally-minded composers were reluctant to incorporate the new type of instruments in their work, there were some willing to experiment. Busoni claimed that music was all about experimentation and those that were too afraid to try electric music were hindering the entire industry.

With the advent of electricity and the availability of electrical devices to larger populations, people were asking composers and musicians to incorporate the new technologies into their work. The first know electromechanical instrument was known as the Telharmonium. The Telharmonium was one of the first demonstrations of an electronic device which was capable of producing sound or music. The instrument was discussed in a 1906 edition of The World's Work. In that piece Marion Melius discusses the work of a Dr. Thaddeus Cahill. Dr. Cahill created a keyboard which was purported to be capable of transmitting audible music across distances using electricity and wires. Whether or not Dr. Cahill's invention was entirely successful is subject to debate depending upon which version of the events that a person is reading. However, what is interesting to note is the process that Cahill used to create his invention. According to Melius (1906):

An alternating-current generator has been built up for each note of the musical scale. Each of these generators produces as many electrical vibrations per second as there are aerial vibrations per second in the note of the musical scale for which it stands…The vibrations are pressed through several transformers or tone mixers to become still more complex, and then the interwoven vibrations go forth on a wire (p. 7660).

Dr. Cahill was able to understand the correlation between vibration and audible sounds and duplicate these in an inorganic way. However, the Telharmonium was quite unpopular with both musicians and composers because it was considered inefficient as an instrument. Its large size and costly construction made it ultimately unusable for most orchestras and musical groups (see figure 4).

Figure 4 Figure 5

The production of the Theremin, invented by Leon Theremin in 1919 was considered the first efficient electromechanical musical instrument (see figure 5). This instrument was far more popular than its earlier counterpart, but also had only limited use for musicians and composers. Certain instruments are capable of eliciting sounds which can potentially create a variety of sensations and emotions. The Theremin however was only capable of producing highly electrified sounds which produced an eerie effect. This is evident by the fact that the Theremin is most commonly heard in the scores of films or musical plays which are trying to horrify or frighten the audience.

The Theremin led to the Futurist movement. This advocated all the potential sounds that electrified music could make; even ones that would not be traditionally considered musical. The Futurists used electricity to create atonal musical pieces which used different variations of sounds which could be produced by horns and other brass instruments. One of the most famous pieces from the period was also called "The Art of Noises" by Luigi Russolo (Russcol 1972). The sounds would be recorded and then modulated and modified. The music was neither instantly-heard such as in a concert setting, nor was it organic. The creation of Futuristic music required the musicians and composers to manipulate what was created by the actual instruments. It was the first genre of music which not only used electronic technology, but could not exist without electronics and electricity.

As time and technology progressed, more innovations were made to the field of electronics and consequently in the field of electronic music as well. People became more confident and comfortable with incorporating electronic techniques and technologies into their music. Even mainstream performers became influenced by the futurists and started using what music historians refer to as "electronic ambience." This is the incorporation of electronic instruments such as the organ, guitar, and drum machine in actual studio recordings instead of relying on the traditional instruments (Scaruffi 2003, p. 512).

In the 1960s, the first modular synthesizer was commercially produced (see figure 6). Inventor Robert Moog began selling his synthesizer in 1966. His intention with the synthesizing machine, he said, was to create "the first instrument that could play more than one 'voice' and even imitate the voices of all the other instruments" (Scaruffi 2003, p. 74). These machines would be hooked up to microphones either in a live setting or in a recording studio (Retrosound 2008). When the performer sang into the microphone, their voice would be modulated based upon the setting of the synthesizer. There is a system of wires attached to the mechanisms which can be arranged in different variances. This allows for the formulation of a nearly infinite number of modulation types.

Figure 6

In the current time, people associate the terms electronic music with the musical genre often referred to as "electronica." This type of music is the descendant of those first electric experiments conducted by Cahil and Theremin. It has been characterized in the recent time period by successful musical groups, for example "Sonic Youth." The first performer credited with popularizing electronic music was Walter Carlos in his record Switched on Bach. It was the first electronic album to achieve success on the music charts (Scaruffi 2003, p. 74). From there, critics and music lovers alike would start to see electronics not only as a component to music, but as a musical genre as well.

However, Carlos was not the originator of electronic music. It is actually true that no modern musician creates music without the help of electronic influences. For the last seventy years, various countries from around the globe, from the United States to Japan and all points in between, musicians and composers have found ways to blend traditional musical sounds with those which can be achieved only through electronic means. Even traditional, acoustic musicians do not perform or record music without the influence or inclusion of electronic instrumentation and manipulation.

One of the more recent examples of electronic music to gain fame, or perhaps notoriety, as the case may be is the auto tuner (see figure 7). This device allows the singer to stay in tune despite the way they actually perform the piece that they are singing (Everett-Green 2006, p.1). The technology is used most often in concerts and other life performances, but has also been used to record music. The machine blends the singer's voice with the instrumental sounds that have already been recorded and will electronically match the voice to the correct key. What happens is that it becomes impossible to detect erroneous notes that are sung by the performer because the technology masks the errors. Auto-tune has also been used as a technique to modulate the voice of the singer to seem different from the person's natural singing voice. The voice can be distorted by raising the pitch or lowering it, giving the voice a sound similar to an electronic synthesizer machine. This type of Auto-tune is exemplified in the Cher song "Believe" wherein her voice is modulated in the chorus to take on a computerized aspect (Cher 1998).