(compMus1) Reading Assignment: Ch. 1 (UPDATED)

DUE WEDNESDAY, 3/4, VIA EMAIL TO KKOTHMAN

Read all of Chapter 1 in E/E, and answer the following questions:

1. How did Gray’s Musical Telegraph create sound vibrations? (What initiated the vibration, and what vibrated?
2. What was the title of the important book on sound that Helmholtz published in 1863, and how did he demonstrate the production of complex tones?
3. How did Cahill’s Telharmonium produce sound vibrations? His business plan for transmitting live music directly into homes and businesses foreshadowed what later industries?
4. What were the significant drawbacks of the Telharmonium that led to its demise.
5. Futurists’ calls for militancy in art can be seen as anticipating what later political movement (or form of government).
6. Name the author and year for The Art of Noise.
7. What is the function of a vacuum tube, and why is it important for electronic music.
8. When was the Theremin invented? And why was John Cage so upset with the typical Theremin performer? (just a little, not the whole paragraph)
9. How was pitch controlled on the Ondes Martenot?
10. How was the Hammond organ similar to the Telharmonium?
11. What was radical about the Trautonium?
12. Where was the tape recorder developed, and when did it become more widely available? (Any thoughts about why it wasn’t widely available before this date?)