the terminology of electronic music

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NRC NRC

TT - 602 TT - 602

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA

TECHNICAL TRANSLATION TT - 602

THE TERMINOLOGY OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC

BY

WERNER MEYER-EPPLER

FROM

TECH. HAUSMITT. NWDR. 6: 5 - 7. 1954

TRANSLATED BY

D. A. SINCLAIR

OTTAWA

1956



Title:

Author:

Ref'erence:

Translator:

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA

Technical Translation TT-602

The terminology of' electronic music.*

(Zur Terminologie der elektronischen Musik).

Werner Meyer-Eppler.

Technische Hausmitteilungen des NordwestdeutschenRundf'tmks, 6: 5-7, 1954.

D.A. Sinclair . Translations Sectionf N.R.C.Library.

Translated with permission.

*Paper No. 2 of' aelectronic musiccasting System.Research Council

special collection of' twelve papers onpublished by the Northwest German BroadThese have been translated by the Nationaland issued as TT-6ol to TT-612.



THE TERMINOLOGY OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC

Surrnnary

In order to avoid possible confusion through theuse of imprecise expressions in the f ie ld of electronicmusic, an attempt is made to define the meanings ofcertain terms already in use. A clear dis t inct ion ismade between the instruments themselves and their modeof application.

With the increasing number of publications on the

problems of electronic music there is a danger tha t a growing

terminological confusion wil l add to the diff icu l ty of under

standing the sUbject matter. Misunderstandings frequently

arise because of fa i lure to dist inguish between the instruments

as such and their applications. We sha l l therefore attempt to

give precise, clear names to the classes of instruments which

have thus fa r become known and also to classify them according

to their respective applications e

I . Nomenclature of Musical and Noise Instruments

A. Acoustic Instruments

Acoustic instruments produce sounds directly without

any preliminary elect r ic osci l lat ion stage. Electr ical t rans

mission means (e.g. elect r ic actions) in no way a l t e r the

acoustic character of the instruments. Class IA therefore in

cludes a l l t radi t ional musical instruments as well as out-of

the-ordinary music and noise-producing apparatus such as wind

machines and steam organs. Human and animal voices also come

under this c lassi f icat ion.



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B. Electr ic Instruments*

Electr ic instruments produce sound indirect ly with

the aid or an electro-acoustical converter (prererably a loudspeaker) as a sound-producing device**. The osci l la t ion which

is to be converted into sound is always present in elect r ica l

rorm. This i s provided by an elec tr ic osci l la tor , which, de

pending on the number or elect r ic components employed, will be

classi r ied as electro-acoustic, electronic-mechanical, or

purely electronic.

1. Electro-acoustic instruments

Electro-acoustic instruments are constructed l ike

t radi t ional musical instruments but possess in addition micro

phones which pick up the sound ar ter transmission through the

a ir or a sol id and pass i t on to ampliriers and loud speakers.

By this means ei ther an inadequate volume may be ampliried, or

the tone may be enriched (e.g. Abbe Pujet ts radio organ). This

class also includes the conversion or the human voice picked up

by an ordinary or a throat microphone, with the aid or a

''Vocoder'' or by means or elec tr ica l ly synchronized osci l l -

ators***.

2. Electronic-mechanical instruments

In these instruments the motion or mechanically

osci l la t ing systems (s t r ings, reeds, diaphragms) or rotating

parts (prori led diSCS, cogwheels) i s converted by means or

*H.H. Draeger(l) suggests the use or the sc ient i r ic term"electrophone" rollowing the nomenclature or Hornbostel andSachs.

**Thus elect r ica l ly driven acoustic instruments cannot beconsidered elec tr ic instruments.

***H.V. MOdak(2) uses this principle ro r monophonic accompaniment or a singing voice on a stringed instrument providedwith magnetic coi ls .



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elect ros ta t ic , electromagnetic or photoelectr ic sould pickup

devices into elec tr ica l osci l la t ions. A large number of known

elect r ica l instruments belong in this c lass , e.g. the

Wurlitzer and Hammond organs, but not record players and

magnetic recorders, which must be included among the elect r ica l

"storage" devices.

3. Purely electronic instruments

In contrast to the previous two cases the purely

electronic instruments do not possess any essent ia l mechanical

parts for producing the elect r ica l osci l la t ions . Rather, the

oscil lat ions are produced wholly by means of electronic com

ponents (vacuum tubes, ionic tubes, t rans is tors , etc . ) .

C. COmpound Instruments

Compound instruments combine acoustic and elect r ic

instruments in a single housing, or a t least suff ic ient ly closetogether in space so that they can be described as single

instruments. An example i s the Mannborg Organ (Siegfried

Mager), the acoustic par t of which comprises an ordinary

harmonium while an electronic 16' pedal bass and a monophonic

electronic melody instrument are combined in the elect r ica l

part .

II. Classif icat ion of Electr ical Instruments

According to Application

A. Electr ical Imitators

Electr ical imitators are intended to "replace" con-

ventional musical instruments. The following a r g u m e n ~ s are

advanced in the ir favour: a lower cost , smaller s ize , easierplaying, greater acoustic output, the combination of several

instruments in one and resis tance to t ropical climatic

conditions. In outward form they are frequently made to



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resemble the instruments they imitate ( the organ manual, the

accordion) although there is no inherent necessity fo r them

to do so. Most commercially produced electr ic musical

instruments are applied in this manner.

B. Electr ic Musical Instruments

The purpose of elec t r ic musical instruments i s not to

imitate conventional instruments but ra ther to provide muslcal

sounds of a dist inct ive kind. Included here is the use of such

instruments for sound effects which cannot be attained by

present-day orchestral instruments (Bach's soprano trumpets).

Depending on the design of the electr ic osci l la t ion generator

the following sub-classi f icat ions may be distinguished:

1. Electro-acoustic musical instruments

These include the radio organ of Abbe Pujet already

mentioned, a pipe organ which produces addit ional sound

combinations with the aid of a microphone, f i l t e r s and loud

speakers.

2. Electronic-mechanical musical instruments

The best kno\vu instrument of th is class is the

Hrumnond Organ*. For producing osci l la t ions this instrument

has rotat ing cogvvheels with electromagnetic sound pickup.

3. Purely electronic musical instruments

In this class we may mention espeCially the Trautonium,

the Mixtur-Trautonium, the Melochord and the Ondes Martenot.

*Str ic t ly speaking this should not be called , an "organ". I tincorrectly suggests a mere imitator and does not do jus t iceto many applications of th is unique and original instrument.



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C. Electr ic Composing Means

This classi f icat ion includes a l l instruments,

apparatuses and processes which are not used for concert orsolo performance but for the production of a composition with

the aid of a sound storage device (needle, photoelectric or

magnetic recording apparatus, perforated bands, etc . )*. This

application, of course, does not rule out the possibi l i ty of

using such instruments in an orchestra when furnished with

suitable playing mechanisms (manual, peddle, etc . ) . Basically,

however, any elect r ic osci l la tor can be used as a composing

means regardless of whether i t i s easy or di f f icu l t to operate.

By using a sound-storage device there i s no necessi ty of gett ing

through a given program of work within a prescribed period of

time. A heterodyne osci l la tor can be used as an elect r ica l

composing means just as well as a noise generator or impulsing

device. The purpose of these instruments is to permit composers

and the i r assistants to make direct records of their composition

on tape, film or the l ike . The reproduction i s then made by

means of a record-playing apparatus instead of a concert

rendering.

The distor t ion devices which are connected betvreen

the elect r ica l instrument and the storage device ( l inear and

non-linear dis tor ters , sound converters, modulators, synchro

nizers , phase-delay means, faders, etc . ) form parts of the

*The acoustic precursors of electr ic composing means were the"machinamenta" (musical clocks, music boxes,. glockenspiels,etc . ) , which, judged by the technique 9f t}J.eir day, had beenbrought to a high degree of p e r f e c t i o n ~ ~ , 4 ) . Related to theseare mechanisms which use more modern storage methods (papermusic rol ls and perforated discs) but employ a conventionalmusical instrument (piano) or group of instruments as the soundproducer. The signals from the storage device bear no directrelat ionship to the resul t ing sound process. Rather theyserve to in i t ia te the sound process according to some arbi t rarycode.



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elect r ic composing apparatus jus t as much as the storage device

i t se l f in i t s many f'orms (tape loops, multiple storers , time or

frequency compressors, electronic converters, etc . ) .

I I I . The Conseguences of &m)loying Electr ical

Instruments

As long as elec tr ica l instruments are used no

differently from the t radi t ional ones there i s clearly no need

to coin a new name f'or the result ing music. Even an "e lec t r ica l

orchestra,,(5) using nothing but elect r ica l instruments wil l not

necessarily produce music outside the scope of t radi t ional

sound pat terns . Nevertheless, i t is altogether possible to

advance into new tonal f ields with an elec tr ica l orchestra. We

shall cal l the result ing music Ue lectrOgenic,,(6).

I f storage devices are added to the elect r ica l

instruments conditions become more complex. Even the recording

of' a symphony concert on a magnetic tape represents a "processing

of' soundtt , if' not an adulterat ion of the original composition.

However, if ' this sound processing i s carried out with the

knowledge and consent of' the composer we then have something

akin to elect r ica l ly arranged music. Most recordings of dance

music (e .g . use of several microphones, viol ins placed singly

throughout the recording hall) and also the multiplex recordings

(Umul t ip le recording"),. where the same perf'ormer or singer i srecorded several times in succession on the same sound tape so

that a harmonizing ef'f'ect is simulated which did not actually

exis t a t the time of' the recording, f a l l within this category.

The logical development of' th is e lec t r ic sound shaping

procedure leads to ffmusique concrete", whose manif'old,expressive

possibi l i t ies have been discussed by Pierre Schaef'f'er and hisassociates(7). Musique concrete uses microphonic records of'

actual (ttconcrete") sound events (instrumental sounds, noises,

voices, etc . ) . The American group represented by John Cage,



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Vladimir Ussachevsky and Louis and Bebe Barron also uses "con

crete" objects but a t the same time admits electr ic musical

instruments. The compositions of th is group are cal led "music

for tape". I t is also possible to inter'lJ'eave the shapingmeans described here with additional musical performances.

Examples are the "Musica su due dimensioni" for f lu te , per

cussion instruments and electronic composing devices by Bruno

Maderna(6), Pierre Schaeffer 's opera ba l le t concret, nOrphee,,(7)

and H.W. Henze's "radiophonic"musical play, "The End of' the

world,,(8) •

Dispensing with a l l purely acoustical intermediate

stages by exclusive use of electronic sound-producing means

leads to a th i rd category whose musical l i fe begins only a t

the moment of reproduction. The term electr ic music has been

chosen for th is(9) . I f no confusion i s to be feared, we might

use the term "authentic" music ( i . e . , put down by the composer

in f inal form ready for reproduction). I f only electronic

mechanical or purely electronic sound-producing means are in

volved, then electronic music i s produced. Another special

case of elect r ic music is " ~ drawn" music. In th is case

the composer uses no instrmnent for the production of

oscil lat ions e From the ent ire composition inventory he re ta ins

only the sound-storage device on whose carr ier material (fi lm,

magnetic tape, paper band) he records his composition

directly(8) or f ixes i t in some other way (e.g. by i m p r i n t i n g ~ ) ) .Mechanized constructive music arises out of a compo

s i t ion process in which not only the individual elements of

the composition are real ized by elect r ic means but also the

formal structures underlying the composition. This means tha t

an elect r ic calculat ing or combining apparatus i s added to the

elect r ica l recording means. The inventor of th is kind ofmusic i s Joseph SChill inger(lO). L. Theremin has deal t with

the special problem of the automatic formation of rhythmic

structures.



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References

1. Draeger, H.H. Prinzip einer Syntematik der Musik-instrumente (The basis of a systematics or musicalinstruments). Kassel. Basel, 1948.

2. Modak, H.V. J . Univ. Bombay, 16: 24, 1948.

3. Protz, A. Mechanische Musikinstrumente (Mechanicalmusical instruments). Kassel, 1948.

4. Clark, J.E.T. Musical Boxes. London, 1952.

5.

6.

Sala, o.

Koster, E.

Musikleben, 6(10): 1953.I t

Rufer and Horer, 6: 519, 1952.

7. Schaeffer, P. A la rechel'lche dtune musique concrete(In search of' a concrete music). Paris, 1952.

8. Lewis, R.E. and McLaren, N. J . Soc. Mot. Pic t. Telev.Engrs. 50: 233, 1948.

9. Kent, E.L. and Tennes, C.J. Proc. Nat. Electron.Con:C.

7: 115, 1951.

10. Trusl i t , A. Mu.sica, 4: 176, 1950.

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