Electronic music uses electronic equipment to produce or modify sounds. Key terms include reverb, panning, delay, echo, tracks, flanger, synthesiser, sampler, sequencer, attack, and decay. Some common electronic music effects are normal sound, reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, distortion, and pitch shifts. Music concrète manipulates natural sounds electronically. Karlheinz Stockhausen developed moment form, emphasizing timbre and texture over traditional structures by focusing on each musical moment. Major figures in electronic music include Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, John Cage, and Edgard Varese.

1. ELECTRONIC MUSIC
REVISION
Electronic music literally
means ‘music produced or
modified by electronic
means so that electronic
equipment is required for it
to be heard’.

2. The terms you need to know
• REVERB – changing the depth of a sound
• PANNING – moving sound source from left to
right and back again
• DELAY – repeating a sound at a set time interval
for a given number of repeats
• ECHO – repeating a sound but each repeat is
quieter than the one before
• TRACK – one ‘line’ of music in an electronic
composition
• FLANGER – feeding some of a delayed sound
back into the original (creates a sweeping or
‘swooshing’ sound)

3. More terms…….
• SYNTHESISER – an electronic instrument (normally keyboard) which
can re-create the sound of other instruments, a combination of
instruments or non-musical sounds. It is normally used in conjunction with
a computer.
• SAMPLE - when you take a short extract of audio sound and mix it into
a different backing track or composition. The extract can also be fed into
a computer and then manipulated - changing pitch, changing speeds,
looping etc.
• SAMPLER – a device used to capture and create samples
• MICROTONE – an interval smaller than a semitone
• SEQUENCER - a device that allows you to place one musical line on
top of another. There are many different types: the simplest is a keyboard
(think of when you have played a melody over a backing rhythm); the
more complicated are software programmes such as Cubase and
Sibelius which use MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface).
• ATTACK – the part of a sound that occurs immediately after it is
sounded. Can be manipulated in electronic music.
• DECAY – the last part of a sound. Again this can be electronically
manipulated.

4. Some of the most common effects…
• Normal
• Reverb (small)
• Reverb (church)
• Delay
• Chorus
• Flanger
• Distortion
• Pitch shift up
• Pitch shift down

5. Music Concrete
• Some electronic music is called music
concréte. This refers to music or sounds
that are found naturally (e.g. played on an
instrument or birds singing outside etc)
and which are then manipulated and
modified using electronic equipment to
distort the original sound. The music is
called music concréte because it uses
natural, or ‘concrete’, sound sources.

6. Moment Form
• Karlheinz Stockhausen was one of the major
innovators in the genre of electronic music. He
wrote a famous piece called Kontakte.
However, he found it very difficult to organise his
music using traditional forms and structures. In
electronic music the emphasis is placed on
timbre and texture and Stockhausen wanted his
listeners to focus on ‘the now’. There is no
traditional development in his pieces – the
composition ends when the material has all
been exploited as much as it can be.
Stockhausen called this philosophy of structuring
his music ‘moment form’.

7. Luciano Berio
Italian (1925 – 2003)

8. Karlheinz Stockhausen
German (1928 – 2007)

9. Pierre Boulez
French (born 1925)

10. John Cage
American (1912 – 1992)

11. Edgard Varese
French (1883 – 1965)