An overview of materials in the archives of the former Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (now the Computer Music Center at Columbia). Sorry, audio examples not included in this version. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. /Nick Patterson

1. Archivesof the Columbia-PrincetonElectronic Music Center(C-PEMC) Nick Patterson Columbia University

2. A daunting prospect…

3. Some History Composers Vladimir Ussachevsky and Otto Luening…

4. Vladimir Ussachevsky

5. Otto Luening

6. Some History… … had been experimenting with the use of tape recorders since the early 1950’s Columbia had obtained an Ampex reel-to-reel tape recorder for recording concerts…

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. Early Experiments Both composers collaborated on early experiments, some of which took place at Bennington. A concert of some of the resulting music was presented by Leopold Stokowski at the Museum of Modern Art, on October 28, 1952

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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:

13. “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.”

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

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

16. The RCA MKII promised new levels of control…

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

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

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

20. 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”

22. Renamed Columbia University Computer Music Center in 1994 (Brad Garton, director)

24. 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

25. The content? Full works by composers working at the Center 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

26. But wait, there’s more… Recordings of the New York Composers’ Forumconcerts, 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

27. Composers’ Forum concerts… 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 some of these NYPL has some program notes… … but I believe Columbia has the only copies of the reels

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

29. What’s happening with the archives? In addition to the inventory, I did a sampling survey to assess the condition of the audio materials I used an open-source audio collections survey tool, AVdB, developed by Columbia and audio engineer Marcos Sueiro Bal Short answer… condition is not good!

30. 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 is the first step Preservation and re-formatting urgently needed Grants to pay for this all (Grammy? Other?) Card file for Composers Forum tapes, listing contents, is being converted and checked against reels on shelf

31. 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

32. Summary The Composers’ Forum recordings feature question & answer sessions with the composers, some moderated by Virgil Thomson. Some of the performers are also of interest. 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.

33. Thank You!Questions? Nick Patterson Columbia University