From Pre-Recorded Tape to Live Computer Processing: Piano Music from Davidovsky to the Present Day.

Abstract

The 1920s and the 1930s first introduced the implementation of electronic effects to acoustic instruments and since this time the exploration of sound manipulation through electronic means has blossomed. Though technological advancement has always affected the way music is performed and composed, the 20th century has shaped the culture of music drastically, and with the advent of recording technology and electronics, the door to a whole new world of artificially generated and/or electronically manipulated sound has been created. The purpose of this study is to examine the history of technologies relevant to the development of electro-acoustic music and explore how their unnatural sounds and methods of sound production have influenced the development of music in the 20th century and beyond. To answer these questions, this study will incorporate analyses of works composed by Mario Davidovsky, Jacob Ter Veldhuis and Christopher Cerrone, showing some of the ways electro-acoustic composition with piano has evolved over the last fifty years.