Music
Click on a title
Blues Mix 1966
Albany Music 3 1966
Jack in January 1967
Street Scene 1967
Drift 1970
Ideas of Movement at Bolton Landing 1971
Echoes 1972
From The 14th On 1973
Flowers 1975
Settings for Spirituals 1977
Solo 1978
Scenes from Stevens 1979
Follow Me Softly 1984
After Some Songs 1995
Spring Drum with Pierre’s Words 1997
Many Times … 2001
One World 1 2006
Micro Fictions 2009
Different Cities 2013
John Cage Reunion 2018
Bill 2019
GETTING STARTED
In 2018, looking back, I realized that a new world of music had developed between 1950, when the first tape recorders appeared in radio stations, and 2000, when analog and digital synthesizers were everywhere. It was fifty years of new technologies and new ideas for sounds and instruments.
Thinking of that, it occurred to me that those of us who were actively involved in music during that time should tell our stories as individuals to convey to future generations of students how it all happened.
So this website is my story. And at the same time, I’d like it to be seen as a model and invitation to others. Please have a look at the EMF Institute.
ABOUT THIS SITE
The examples of my music and articles in this site are meant to exemplify the development of musical technology in the second half of the 20th century. But bear in mind that this site is not finished. Among items to be added, I intend to document my involvement with other people in specific projects, for example Ear to the Earth as an attempt, to a large degree futile, towards making the public aware of environmental problems. There will be more. For the moment, click where you like and please come back again.
MOOG SYNTHESIZERS
Although in and following 1960 as a student and lifelong friend of Elliott Carter, it was in 1965, as a new faculty member at what was at that time the State University of New York at Albany (currently The University at Albany), that I became aware of the creative possibilities in electronic music. Having been asked to create a studio, I went to meet Robert Moog. He had, at just about that time, created a storefront company in Trumansburg, a small town on the shore of Lake Cayuga, in the center of New York State not so far from Albany.
In 1966 and 1967, having purchased Moog synthesizer modules with grants from the university, I began to work, composing Blues Mix, Albany Music 3, Jack in January, and Street Scene.
In 1968, with a larger grant from the university, I commissioned Robert Moog to design the detail and build a large system that he named the CEMS (Coordinated Electronic Music Studio) System. Using CEMS, I composed Drift, Ideas of Movement at Bolton Landing, and Echoes. For Echoes, I also used a digital device named Daisy, designed and built by John Roy, an artist deeply involved in electronics. From the 14th On is not electronic at all, but probably influenced by working with electronics. And Flowers and Settings for Spirituals were composed with computers, Daisy, and CEMS.
THE FIRST SYNCLAVIER
In 1977, thanks to the Rockefeller Foundation, I was able to buy the first Synclavier, a digital synthesizer / computer system built by Sydney Alonso and Cameron Jones at New England Digital Corporation and, with the help of Roger Meyers as my working partner at the time, began to write programs for it. I composed Solo, Scenes from Stevens, and Follow Me Softly with the Synclavier.
INTELLIGENT MUSIC
In 1986, I began to work with a MIDI system consisting of a Macintosh computer, Yamaha synthesizers, and software developed at Intelligent Music, a company that I had formed with some friends, among them David Zicarelli who developed M, a group of algorithms portrayed graphically on a computer screen. Many of the songs in After Some Songs, as well as Spring Drum, were composed with M.
KYMA
In 1998, I was asked by Keyboard Magazine to write a review of Kyma, a new digital hardware/software system created by Carla Scaletti and Kurt Hebel. I purchased Kyma after writing the review. I composed Many Times …, One World 1, Micro Fictions, and Different Cities with Kyma. And I still use it.
READ ON
For me, creating music with electronics has meant exploration, discovery, creativity, research, performance, and sharing knowledge and ideas with others in a new world of sound. My goal is to share those attitudes and activities with students and colleagues into the future.
Words
Click on a title
Personal words
Composer’s Statement
Advice
You Can Do Anything
About this book
Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music
Historical writing
Remembering Elliott Carter
Iannis Xenakis: Who Is He?
A Conversation with David Tudor
Articles
Some Reflections …
Mapping Revised
Intro to Play Program
Current Activity
Adjunct Professor NYU
Intelligent Arts
EMF Institute
Member AES (Audio Engineering Society) New York
Honorary Lifetime Member CIRMMT
(Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology)
McGill University, Montreal
Video
© 2019 Joel Chadabe