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Electro acoustic
Another area of electronic music, often titled ‘electro-acoustic’ incorporates both electronic and acoustic instruments in equal partnership. Various instruments have been designed with this sort of music in mind, such as the theremin invented in 1917.[i] Named after its inventor, the theremin used two antennae; one controlling pitch, the other volume. The instrument was played by altering the position of the performers arms relative to these antennae, as can be seen in the picture below:
The
Theremin demonstrated by its inventor.
The theremin was designed to be used with traditional acoustic instruments, and works for theremin and orchestra were soon produced. When Leon Theremin invented his new instrument it was not intended for it to create a new type of music, rather it was meant to join the more traditional instruments of the orchestra, adding new sounds and timbres, perhaps even beginning new section of instruments.[ii] Another significant instrument intended for similar use was the Ondes Martenot made by Maurice Martenot. This instrument was first seen in at the Paris Opera in 1928 at the first public concert to include an electronic instrument.[iii] Composers wrote works that combined electronic and traditional instruments such as the work for theremin and orchestra, and it was not until the 1950’s that purely electronic works appeared. Electro-acoustic music in its simplest form could combine a synthesizer and an acoustic instrument, however many composers have looked for other ways to combine acoustic and electronic sounds. More recently David Behrman for example, made the two elements interactive, using pitch sensors on an acoustic instrument, set to trigger audio responses from a computer. This is an example of how in some works, the electronic and the acoustic can became dependent on each other.
More recently the term electro-acoustic has also been applied to works that do not necessarily make use of traditional instruments as above, but rather use a variety of processed and unprocessed sounds that can be environmental, instrumental, or synthesized. These sounds are then combined using tape, a computer, or sometimes live performance to realise the work.