(compMus2) Reading Assignment: Russolo

Due Wednesday, 8/27

Read Russolo’s “The Art of Noises: Futurist Manifesto” in Audio Culture (chapter 2, pp. 10 – 14), or online at ubuweb.

Email to me short responses to the following questions:

  1. Electronic musicians have a fairly specific definition of noise. (random waveforms that produce all frequencies) Is Russolo using this defintion? If not, what does he mean by the use of noise?
  2. Russolo writes of the sonic limitations of the (then current) orchestra. Has the orchestra changed significantly since 1913, and if so, how?
  3. Russolo calls for an “orchestra of noises,” made by the machines of the industrial age. Setting aside the historical specifics of early 20th-century technology, can you think of any contemporary types of musical ensembles that might qualify as a machine/technology-based orchestra of noises?

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