Guest presentation to class at Pratt, Feb 25 2013

1. Archives
of the
Columbia-Princeton
Electronic Music Center
(CPEMC)
Nick Patterson
Columbia University

2. Some History
• Composers Vladimir Ussachevsky and Otto
Luening
• Both working at Columbia and Barnard during
the mid-1940s
• Interests in electronic music via the tape
recorder began in early 1950s

3. Some History
• Music Dept. acquires an Ampex 400 reel-to-reel
tape recorder in ca. 1951, and WKCR gets
Magnachord recorder
• Ussachevsky and Luening both begin
experimenting with musical applications of tape
recorder

4. Early tape recorder experiments
• Experiments involved manipulating pitch,speed, and
tape direction of recorded material on tape, and using
tape echo
• Engineer Peter Mauzey assisted in getting these effects
• Here is an example of early experiments by
Ussachevsky for “Sonic Countours”

5. Vladimir Ussachevsky

6. Otto Luening

7. “The tape recorder was put in my charge,
and one day I suddenly realized that it
could be treated as an instrument of
sound transformation.” - Ussachevsky

8. Some More History…
• During the 1950s, Luening and Ussachevsky
continue to develop the musical use of the tape
recorder,
• In 1952, Ussachevsky presents “experiments” at
a concert at Columbia, and at a concert at
MoMA, the “first public concert of tape recorder
music in the United States” (Luening)

9. Some More History…
• During the 1950s, Luening and Ussachevsky
continue developing works incorporating tape
recorder, such as the “Rhapsodic Variations” for
tape recorder and orchestra (1954), premiered
by the Louisville Symphony Orchestra
• Unusual in that they collaborated as joint
composers

10. Birth of the CPEMC
• After a decade of experimentation with
electronics, in various locations at Columbia, a
plan was proposed for a center for electronic
music
• Funding was obtained from the Rockefeller
Foundation, for a joint center with Princeton, and
the CPEMC was established in 1959, in Prentis
Hall on W.125th St.

11. Formal incorporation
• In 1959, the CPEMC was formally
incorporated, assisted by a grant from the
Rockefeller Foundation.
• Ussachevsky’s notes indicate a grant of
$175,000.
• Ussachevsky, Luening, Babbitt, and Sessions
(all composers)formed the Committee of
Direction (Ussachevsky as chair).

12. In notes, Ussachevsky described
the Center’s aims:
“… a certain amount of research in sound
synthesis and some analytical studies will
proceed, parallel to the composers’
creative work.”
He goes on to mention work in musical acoustics, and
supplementing studies in psychology, psychoacoustics,
speech and electrical engineering

13. The RCA MKII Synthesizer
• This “state-of-the-art”, room-sized
synthesizer was the second model built by
RCA, based on work by H.F. Olson and
Herbert Belar (the earlier model was at
Princeton)
• It formed the centerpiece of the newly-
established Center

14. The RCA MKII Synthesizer
• Olson and Belar’s 1955 paper in the
Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America, v.27, no.3 provided an
interesting engineer’s perspective on
sound:

15. “The tones produced by bells… glockenspiel, and
xylophone are objectionable for two fundamental
reasons: first, because the strike tones are disagreeable
and, second, because the overtones are not harmonics”
or…
“… the bow scratch which has always been objectionable
in the violin…”
or…
“The objectionable noise of the hammer striking the string
together with mechanical rattle of the piano does not
exist in the tones produced by the electronic system.”

16. The RCA MKII Synthesizer
Babbitt, Peter Mauzey (engineer), and Ussachevsky

17. The RCA MKII Synthesizer
Note the keypads for punching the paper rolls
which drove the synthesizer

18. The RCA MarkII promised new
levels of control…

19. … but, “any sound that may be imagined
by the human mind” for RCA apparently
meant this:

20. … Milton Babbitt, however, had other
ideas… such as “Philomel” (1964):

21. … He could do this, because he’s a card-
carrying member of the Audio Engineering
Society…

22. The RCA MKII Synthesizer was
used mostly by Babbitt but also
by composer Charles Wuorinen,
for his 1970 Pulitzer-prize
winning composition “Time’s
Encomium”

23. Some other notable pieces
realized at the Center (but not
using the RCA MarkII) included:
• Mario Davidovksy’s “Synchronisms No.5” (1969)
• Charles Dodge’s “Earth’s Magnetic Field” (1970)
• (an early example of computer music)

24. Some later milestones
• Renamed Columbia University
Electronic Music Center in 1980 (Mario
Davidovsky, director)
• Renamed Columbia University
Computer Music Center in 1994 (Brad
Garton, director)
• Center is still active and well-represented
in the New York and international music
scenes

25. So… didn’t you mention some
archives?

26. Indeed!

27. The Archives contain:
• 4,859 reel-to-reel tapes (ca. 55% 10” and 45%
7” reels)
• 700 recordings in other formats (DATs,
phonorecords, CDs, etc.)
• ca. 72 linear feet of printed documents,
manuscripts, and ephemera
• I conducted a rough survey and inventory to
obtain the best estimate I could, within time
constraints

28. The content?
• Full works by composers working at the Center
from 1950s to present
• Work tapes (source material, manipulated
recordings, loops, etc.)
• Some music manuscripts of full scores, and
sketches and work notes
• Technical documentation relating to the RCA
MKII and other studio equipment
• Photos, slides, and ephemera

29. Some examples
45rpm disc of filter experiments …

30. Some examples
No shortage of tape reels…

31. Some examples
Many have condition issues…

32. Some examples
... to put it mildly

33. Some examples
Tape parts to published works…

34. Some examples
Working tapes used in composition…

35. Some examples
Tape loops …

36. Some examples
Tape splicing equipment …

37. Some examples
Punched paper rolls for the RCA Mark II

38. Some examples
Note the keyboard on left, for punched paper rolls

39. Some examples
“Sexual Symbolism of the American Automobile
(45rpm disc)

40. Some examples
French disc of “musique concrete” (1959)

41. Some examples
Some just plain weird stuff…

42. Some examples
… and some outright mysteries

43. Some examples
… and another mystery

44. But wait, there’s more…
• Recordings of the New York Composers’
Forum concerts, from ca. 1951 through the late
1970’s
• These continue the Composers’ Forum
concerts begun under the WPA Federal Music
Project in the 1930s, by Ashley Pettis, which
went on hiatus during WWII, but was revived
by Columbia and the NYPL in ca. 1947

45. Composers’ Forum concerts
(1951 – ca. 1975)
• One interesting feature, present in the
original series, is the inclusion of question
and answer sessions with the featured
composers
• Virgil Thomson served as moderator for
several of these
• NYPL has program notes for many of the
concerts …
• … but I believe Columbia has the only copies
of the original reels

46. Composers’ Forum concerts
(1951 – ca. 1975)
• Several of the works preserved are not found
in WorldCat, including for example works by
under-represented female composers of that
period, such as Julia Perry and Marion Bauer
• Here’s an excerpt from Marion Bauer’s “4
Moods for piano”

47. Here’s one example of a reel, which contains a discussion by
composers Luigi Dallapiccola and Chou Wen Chung, from
1957

48. Composers’ Forum concerts
• Some audio examples:
• Composer Ilhan Usmanbash and
moderator Virgil Thomson

49. Composers’ Forum concerts
• Some audio examples:
• Richard Maxfield, “Piano Concert for
David Tudor”

50. Composers’ Forum concerts
• Some audio examples:
• Richard Maxfield, “Piano Concert for
David Tudor” – Discussion period (Jack
Beeson, moderator)

51. Composers’ Forum concerts
• Some audio examples:
• Joan Tower, “Opa Eboni”

52. Composers’ Forum concerts
• Some audio examples:
• Joan Tower, “Opa Eboni” – Discussion
period – Harvey Sollberger, moderator

53. Composers’ Forum concerts
• Composers Forum content identified as
a finite area, on which to start
preservation (funding + practical
constraints)
• 30 concert dates initially selected for
digitization
• Grants from ARSC and NY State

54. Composers’ Forum concerts
• Phase I: 30 concerts digitized (by
George Blood Audio)
• Cataloged and made available in our
OPAC (CLIO)
• Full-quality audio files installed on 5
local workstations in Music & Arts
Library

55. Composers’ Forum concerts
• Phase II: remainder of concerts
digitized
• awaiting cataloging
• we continue to look for a streaming
solution
• barriers are internal tech issues and
resources
• researchers already using materials

56. What’s happening with the
archives?
• Storage in the poorly controlled environment has
taken its toll
• The collection has now been deeded to the Libraries
• Physical transfer to Offsite storage
• Preservation and re-formatting urgently needed
• Grants to pay for this all (Grammy? Other?)
• Continue to seek streaming access (but very likely
limited to Columbia)

57. Summary
The archives of the Center is an important
collection of materials which provide insight into
the development of tape, electronic, and
computer music in the United States and
internationally; it documents the work of several
important composers, and contains many unique
original recordings, including the New York
Composers’ Forum concerts from ca. 1951-late
1970’s

58. Summary
The Composers’ Forum recordings feature
question & answer sessions with the composers,
some moderated by Virgil Thomson and other
noted composers. Some of the performers are
also notable. Even with very limited access and
lack of arrangement, this collection has already
been visited by researchers, and improved
access and preservation would no doubt attract
the interest of future researchers.

59. Thank You!
Questions?
Nick Patterson
Columbia University