Electronic Music (classical)
| Electronic | |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins | Late 19th – early 20th century |
| Typical instruments | Electronic instruments |
| Subgenres | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Other topics | |
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments and circuitry-based music technology. An electronic musician being a musician who composes and/or performs such music. In general, a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means, such as violins and drums, and that produced using electronic technology. Electromechanical instruments include mechanical elements, such as strings, hammers, and so on, and electric elements, such as magnetic pickups, power amplifiers and loudspeakers. Examples of electromechanical sound producing devices include the telharmonium, Hammond organ, and the electric guitar, which are typically made loud enough for performers and audiences to hear with an instrument amplifier and speaker cabinet. Purely electronic instruments do not have vibrating strings, hammers, or other sound-producing mechanisms. Electronic instrument sounds can be achieved using devices such as the theremin, sound synthesizer, and computer.
The first electronic devices for performing music were developed at the end of the 19th century, and shortly afterward Italian Futurists explored sounds that had previously not been considered musical. During the 1920s and 1930s, electronic instruments were introduced and the first compositions for electronic instruments were composed. By the 1940s, magnetic audio tape allowed musicians to tape sounds and then modify them by changing the tape speed or direction, leading to the development of electroacoustic tape music in the 1940s, in Egypt and France. Musique concrète, created in Paris in 1948, was based on editing together recorded fragments of natural and industrial sounds. Music produced solely from electronic generators was first produced in Germany in 1953. Electronic music was also created in Japan and the United States beginning in the 1950s. An important new development was the advent of computers for the purpose of composing music. Algorithmic composition was first demonstrated in Australia in 1951.
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