UTSA Electronic Music Studio Web Site: MUS 3123 Listening List

Listening List for

MUS 3123: Introduction to Electronic and Computer Music
All items are on reserve in the multi-media center of the JPL.

To be listened to by FRIDAY of the week assigned.

Write down some thoughts about each piece you listen to. These could relate the works as plain old music ("interesting form" (why?), "too long" (why?)), the sounds they make use of ("too 'cold,'" "good mix of live and electronic sounds"), electronic music techniques ("amazing considering the equipment they used"), or anything else. Read liner notes (if present) to gain some understanding about how the piece was made. Also consider the questions or thoughts I have placed below each listening example.

I will collect these notes each Friday. You do not have to type them, but they should be neat.

For the listening exams, you need to know the:

· composer’s name,

· title of piece,

· instrumentation (for works with no instrumentation listed, you may simply write “electronic music”), and

· year composed.

Listening List Part 1

week 1:	Edgard Varese Poeme Electronique (1958) CD M3 .V37 L6 TO CONSIDER: Listen also to Varese’s Hyperprism (on the same CD) composed many years before (in 1924). How does Varese’s earlier acoustic work foreshadow this electronic piece? What concerns do these two pieces share? What is missing from them?
week 2:	John Cage Imaginary landscape no. 4 (1951) (for 12 radios) CD M1473 .C34 I4; score: M1470 C13 I4 1960 TO CONSIDER: In what ways does this piece challenge your ideas about what music is? How do you feel about a piece that will sound radically different each time it is performed? Bruce Hamilton Moto (1998) CD M1473 .S43 M8 v.8 TO CONSIDER: The title refers to movement. How is this reflected in the piece – it what ways does it move? How is timbre used?
week 3:	Mario Davidovsky Synchronism no. 6 (1971) (for piano and tape) (Pulitzer Prize winner) Score: M25.D249S9 no. 6 CD M1.R4 80412; record M1 .D249 S9 TO CONSIDER: How does the tape part blend with the timbre and envelope of the piano? How does Davidovsky overcome the limitations of the synthesis technology of 1971 which favors harmonically simple sounds? David Heuser *Deep Blue Spiral* (1998) (saxophone and tape) CD M268 .J878 J8; Score: MMC0090 (personal copy on reserve) TO CONSIDER: How does the live instrument interact with the electronic music?
week 4:	Salvatore Martirano L's. G.A. (1968) (for gassed masked politico, helium bomb and tape) CD M1473 C51 v.5 TO CONSIDER: Read the notes and information in Electric Sound on this piece. Consider the interaction between the visual element and audio in a performance. How does Martirano create a sense of unease? Ellanie Lillios Dreams in the Desert (2001) CD M1473 .S43 M8 v.13 TO CONSIDER: How does Lillios make traditionally non-musical sounds musical in this piece?
week 5:	Allan Schindler At the Edge (1990) (for percussion and tape) CD M1473 v57 v.4 Allen Strange *Shaman: Sisters of Dreamtime* (1994) (for amplified violin and electronic sound) CD M1473 .M87 1998 TO CONSIDER: How do the live instruments interact with the tape parts in these two pieces? How do Allan/Allen make these two worlds work together?
week 6:	Charles Dodge Any Resemblance...(ca. 1972) (for piano and tape) CD M1473 .D635 A5 James Mobberley Icarus Wept (1996) (for trumpet and tape) CD M1473 .S43 M8 v.6 TO CONSIDER: Both of these pieces have a humorous component, which is more apparent when they seen in a live performance (try to visualize what they look like). How does the interaction or confusion between what is live and what is on the tape create humor in both pieces?
week 7:	Tom Flaherty Quartet for Viola, Cello and Digital Processor (1994) CD M1473 .S43 M8 v.5 TO CONSIDER: Read the notes about how the digital processor is used in Flaherty’s piece. The restriction this creates is extreme. How does Flaherty overcome it and keep the piece interesting? (Or perhaps you think he doesn’t…) Paul Lansky Just-more-idle-chatter (1987) CD M1473 I56 TO CONSIDER: Lansky sound source is very limited. What does he do to try to hold your interest despite this?
week 8:	First Listening Exam

Listening List Part 2

week 8:	Eric Lyon The Blistering Price of Power (1993) (for flute and tape) CD M 298 .M35 P5 Frank Zappa G-Spot Tornado (1986) MMC0093 (personal CD on reserve) TO CONSIDER: How do these pieces interact with the norms and expectations of popular music? How is pop referenced and how does the composer then undermine that reference?
week 9:	Joe Klein Dog (1997) (for female voice, bassoon, and intermedia environment) CD M1473 .C46; Score: MMC0091 (personal copy on reserve) TO CONSIDER: Read the notes on this piece in the score, and consider the interaction between the visual and audio in a performance. Dennis Miller Cross Contours (2005) (animation) DVD N7433.8 .M647 2005 TO CONSIDER: How do the audio and video interact? Could either exist successfully without the other?
week 10:	Michael Gordon: Weather (2^nd movement only) (string orchestra and electronics) (1997) CD: M 1245 G67 W4 Steve Reich Come Out (1965) CD M3.1 .R3362 E17 TO CONSIDER: Both of these pieces are examples of minimalism (go here for some definitions of minimalist music: http://www.newmusicbox.org/page.nmbx?id=31tp01). How does the timeframe they work in change your expectations for the rate of change? In the Reich particularly, how does the small rate of change in the piece change your hearing? Also consider the political nature of the piece – compare to L’s G.A.
week 11:	Daniel Weymouth: Rare Events (1995) (for bass clarinet and tape) CD M1473 .S43 M8 v.5 TO CONSIDER: This is a virtuosic piece for the performer, and uses extended techniques to create unusual sounds with the bass clarinet. Why might have Weymouth done this? What effect does it have on the interaction between the live performer and the tape part? Russell Pinkston Gerrymander (2002) (for Bb clarinet and Max/MSP) CD M1473 .S43 M8 v.13 TO CONSIDER: The clarinet player generates most of the accompaniment in this piece. How are the clarinet sounds processed to make them different from the acoustic clarinet? Can you always tell the difference between the clarinet and the electronic part?
week 12:	Olly Wilson Sometimes (1976) (tenor and tape) CD M1 .R4 80423; Score: MMC0092 (personal copy on reserve) TO CONSIDER: Read the notes in the score about performing the piece. As with any piece with live performers, think about what the piece looks like live. How does Wilson use the tape part (which can easily be machine like) to enhance the emotionality of the piece?
week 13:	Morton Subotnick The Wild Bull (1968) CD M1473 .S938 S54 1994 TO CONSIDER: Subotnick was the first composer to create LP-length compositions (about 20 minutes to a side). How does the piece maintain your interest over this long span of time (if it does)? Considering the technology of the time, how does Subotnick overcome its limitations?
week 14:	Laurie Spiegel Appalachian Grove I (1974) TO CONSIDER: Like other minimalist pieces we’ve heard, Spiegel’s piece can be looked at as an exercise in maintaining our interest despite the limited material. But she is also battling her technology – this is one of the earliest computer pieces. How does she deal with this problem? Brian Eno: Unfamiliar Wind (Leeks Hill) (1978-1982) Both pieces on: CD M1473 .O46 2000 (disc 3) Booklet: M1473 .O46 2000 booklet TO CONSIDER: Eno is known for atmospheric/environmental music. How does he maintain your interest in this piece even while having not that much happen?