More compostional techniques?

As we've seen with tape splicing, some compositional processes in electronic music in the early days of the Center were time-consuming and painstaking. Unlike today, when audible feedback on compositional choices can be almost instantaneous, much planning would often need to go into the generation of electronic sound.



Many punched paper rolls are found in the archives, apparently used to generate sounds on the RCA sysnthesizer. The edges of the paper rolls are perforated, and holes were punched in the paper to generate sound.



Scattered throughout many of Babbitt's papers and sketches are references to "holes", "ratios", and "gears".



I hope to gain some more insight into these terms by speaking to the Associate Director of the Center. I'm speculating that perhaps "holes" refers to the holes punched in the paper rolls, and that the calculations had to do with tempo. I'm still not sure how "gears" and "ratios" fit in, but it would be interesting to determine if they have any connection to the fractional notations found in some Babbitt scores and sketches.

And, just how might this fit into things!?

Some tools of the trade

Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky pioneered the use of the tape recorder as a compositional tool, and many composers to follow spent hours working over tape splicing blocks, razors and china markers in hand.



One box in the archives contains a collection of individual loops made by Ussachevsky.



Some are marked with china marker, sometimes to indicate pitch.

Now, things get interesting...

My latest work in the archives has yielded some really interesting items. Along with the predictable administrative records such as financial statements and requisitions, there has been a parade of interesting items, led by sections of music manuscript by the prominent American composer Milton Babbitt. There are what appear to be sketches or drafts of portions of at least two works, "Phonemena" and "Occasional Variations".



















Here's a detail of one of the scores. Many pages include numerical annotations, that may perhaps refer to serial or other compositional processes.
















Here is what could be a compositional matrix of some kind, perhaps associated with "Occasional Variations" (this sketch was contained in an envelope with music manuscript sketches, marked with this title).