Lecture 12: Electronic Music Flashcards
1
Q
Electronic scores
A
- electronic instruments nothing new
- Rozsa and the theremin = first important time
- electronic instruments have been around for much longer
- by the 1950s, electronic music had become an important part of musical modernism
2
Q
RCA synthesizer
A
- Columbia University
- computer built specifically to make music
- cannot play them in real time
- you could create unusual sounds
during the 1950s, there were only 4 synthesizers
3
Q
Forbidden Planet
A
- 1956
- all-electronic score
- Louis and Bebe Barron
- increasing interest in the avant-garde
- no clear conventions for the audience to read
4
Q
Late 1960s
A
- by the end of the 1960s = smaller, modular synthesizers
- start having musical keyboards attached to them
- have boxes that filter, distort, etc.
- when you create a sound, you have to patch the boxes together and adjust the knobs
- now, sounds that are created on a synthesizers are called patches
5
Q
Switched on Bach
A
- 1968
- Wendy Carlos
- music of Bach recorded on a synthesizer
- album popularized the synthesizer in popular culture
- became one of the biggest selling albums of the 1960s
- won various Grammys
- synthesizers very quickly becomes a part of contemporary music culture
6
Q
Wendy Carlos
A
- 1939 →
- A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- The Shining (1980)
- Tron (1982)
7
Q
Vangelis
A
- 1943 →
- Chariots of Fire (1981)
- keyboardist/artist that uses synthesizers
- brings electronic scoring to a new level
8
Q
Blade Runner
A
- 1982
- director = Ridley Scott
- atmospheric textures, fused with film-noir references
- score almost entirely composed by Vangelis
- synthesizers becoming more and more common
9
Q
Pop musicians
A
- MIDI and increasingly powerful synthesizers and computers have allowed musicians without formal training to compose and produce film scores
- if you are using synthesizers, you can create almost any sound you can imagine
- you can create an almost orchestral sounding score, except you are playing all the parts
10
Q
MIDI
A
- 1983
- musical instrument digital interface
- system of hardware and software that allows any synthesizer to communicate with any other synthesizer
- can create massive sounds using multiple synthesizers and only one keyboard
- each of the keyboards can play different parts
11
Q
Danny Elfman - Facts
A
- 1953 →
- American Born
- Oingo Boingo
- influences included Bernard Herrmann
- breakthrough score = Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
- directed by Tim Burton
- criticized for not being able to read music
- uses synthesizer studio to do a mockup of what the orchestra will do
12
Q
Danny Elfman - Characteristics
A
- frantic/carnivalesque
- frequent use of ¾ time (waltz rhythm) and 2/4 (polka rhythm)
- frequent use of celeste and wordless choir
- hitting the action to the point of Mickey Mousing
- first recognizable one since Steiner to use this style
13
Q
Beetlejuice
A
- 1988
- instrument for Beetlejuice is a violin (associated with the devil)
- then, there is a country/western reference on the violin (lack of taste)
- fast, frantic polka
14
Q
Edward Scissorhands - Scene 1 (Peg goes to the Mansion)
A
- distinct musical sections
- music starts as she turns the mirror to see the house
- extreme ranges in melody = bass clarinet and harp
bass clarinet, choir - music is unfocused until she passes through the gate
- waltz structure, has some franctic elements
- as we get to the gate, it takes a darker turn = chimes, harp
- then, another change after passing the second gate
- risk of danger is gone, more a sense of supernatural wonder
15
Q
Edward Scissorhands - Scene 2 (Hair cutting)
A
- polka structure
- then, as he starts cutting Joyce’s hair, it switches to a tango
- the music changes to a Gypsy violin (virtuosity)
- returns to the tango theme
- then, Peg comes in to get her haircut, and a love theme starts
