Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture

by Thom Holmes

Electronic and Experimental Technology, Music, and Culture, Fourth Edition provides a comprehensive history of electronic music, covering key composers, genres, and techniques used in both analog and digital synthesis. This textbook has been greatly expanded and revised with the needs of both students and instructors in mind. The reader-friendly style, logical organization, and pedagogical features provide easy access to key ideas, milestones, and concepts. Now a four-part text with fourteen chapters, the new fourth edition features new The companion website, launching June 2012, includes a number of student and instructor resources, such as additional Listening Guides, links to audio and video resources on the internet, PowerPoint slides, and interactive quizzes.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History, Philosophy

568 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1985

Reviews

[Missmmking · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am into this book... checked it out of the library...along with a number of other books on the subject ...wondering which one should I break down and purchase. This is pleasure reading for me on MUNI (like books about thinking and inventions & creative stuff that stretch the noggin) - I am a bit in love with the subject.
I like the fact that this author also writes books for kids about dinosaurs!!! Nice choices for history lessons for home schools.

[DJ Yossarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

REVIEW OF THE SIXTH EDITION

I realized, somewhat belatedly, that for me this book is one to refer back to over and over for the next few decades, rather than one to read from page 1 to page 585.

Which isn’t to say I didn’t give that a try — I read the first couple hundreds pages, to my great enjoyment— but the book is so packed with information that I would frequently fall down a rabbit hole, enticed by a random mention of some obscure composition or experiment, or one of the listening guides, or a photo of some odd-looking piece of technology.

I’m sure I’ll pick up where I left off again, and then put it down for a while, because it’s way too interesting not to disappear into it every now and again. But its greatest value is as a reliable reference book.

The publisher provides bonus material on their website, and the author hosts an incredible podcast (The Holmes Archive of Electronic Music), so the whole package makes for a very useful resource. If this stuff is your cup of tea, you will want this book.

[Ben]

First of all, for clarity's sake, I'm reading the third edition. I like this book in a lot of ways, I think the coverage dutifully ranges from the "big names" (Cage, Stockhausen) and important but less celebrated artists, such as the Ann Arbor school (Ashley, Mumma). the listening lists are generally pretty sound, assuming you can find many of these recordings!

And yet, I have a major complaint. The edition I'm reading is riddled with errors, ranging from minor to obvious. I've counted five so far, and I have a feeling there are more. For example: The author lists Xenakis' "Metastasis" as being written in 1964, with the aid of computers. It was actually composed in 1954, years before Xenakis (or anyone else for that matter) used computers as a means of composing music.

I'm tempted to contact the author and point out the various things I've found.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm extremely persnikkity about bks on this subject b/c it's one of my main obsessions. NO bk is ever likely to cover the subject as thoroughly as I'd like. Such bks are always about superstars &, if they're written by NYC authors, then they're about NYC superstars. Dullsville, daddio. Holmes at least attempts to cover a broader spectrum of people. I liked this one enuf to even read the revised 2nd edition. On the downside, though, Holmes is a NYC writer wch means that when he knows about obscure people they're obscure NYC people. Oh well, it' still a good bk.