The computer music movement of the 1960’s, 70s and 80’s created the technology that established the sound of music as we know it today. We unearth the stories behind that movement, as well as some trippy music that demonstrates how music grew into the electronic sounds we take for granted now. In Season 2, we take a deep dive into the music of Stanley Jordan, a jazz master who combines musical virtuosity with a lifelong love of the technology. In Season 1, we told the story of a group of music-loving computer engineers who happened upon some musicians who were enamored with a new IBM computer at the Engineering Quadrangle at Princeton University in 1963.
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The computer music movement of the 1960’s, 70s and 80’s created the technology that established the sound of music as we know it today. We unearth the stories behind that movement, as well as some trippy music that demonstrates how music grew into the electronic sounds we take for granted now. In Season 2, we take a deep dive into the music of Stanley Jordan, a jazz master who combines musical virtuosity with a lifelong love of the technology. In Season 1, we told the story of a group of music-loving computer engineers who happened upon some musicians who were enamored with a new IBM computer at the Engineering Quadrangle at Princeton University in 1963.
Paul Lansky is the most celebrated and musically influential of the computer musicians at Princeton, and it isn’t only because he was famously sampled by Radiohead on their classic album “Kid A.”
His work expanded the boundaries of computer music and speech synthesis for art into territory far from the art’s musically difficult twelve-tone beginnings. In the words of current Princeton Music Professor Dan Trueman, “He invites you to listen however you want… It’s this place you go and your find your own way.” Or as his former student Frances White said, Lansky was able to bring “computer music into a much more open and beautiful place.”
This episode is a celebration of the life’s work of Paul Lansky, as well his collaboration with a Princeton engineer, Ken Steiglitz, that made much of that work possible. We’ll hear a wide sweep of his computer music from throughout his multifaceted career. And we’ll look at Lansky’s work building software, as well as the similar efforts of fellow composer Barry Vercoe, whose CSound technology left a lasting imprint on software musicians still use today.
Composers & Computers
The computer music movement of the 1960’s, 70s and 80’s created the technology that established the sound of music as we know it today. We unearth the stories behind that movement, as well as some trippy music that demonstrates how music grew into the electronic sounds we take for granted now. In Season 2, we take a deep dive into the music of Stanley Jordan, a jazz master who combines musical virtuosity with a lifelong love of the technology. In Season 1, we told the story of a group of music-loving computer engineers who happened upon some musicians who were enamored with a new IBM computer at the Engineering Quadrangle at Princeton University in 1963.
