Re: [microsound] book list

[Marc Weidenbaum <marc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Five recent readings, plus a short story.

Isacoff, Stuart
TEMPERAMENT
Study of the history of equal temperament, and how we got there, from the 
music of the spheres, through well-tempered claviers, all the way up to 
equal temperament, and onward to microtonal experimentation. Fascinating 
study of, among other things, parallel developments in China, and of how 
the math behind leap year is consistent with the shortcuts required to make 
equal temperament function.

Boyd, Malcolm
PALESTRINA'S STYLE
Concise overview of the early polyphonist's music. Methodological survey of 
the aspects of ancient polyphony that lend themselves to a sense of 
"timelessness." Emphasis on the "verticality" of Palestrina's music, about 
his emphasis on sonic depth and complex sonorities, rather than on melodic 
development.

Ernst, David
MUSIQUE CONCRETE
(Crescendo Publishing)
A 1972 pamphlet of workbook exercises for educators who are teaching 
musique concrete, with an emphasis on the rudiments of splicing-as-composition.

Reich, Steve
WRITINGS ABOUT MUSIC
(The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design / copublished with 
New York University Press)
This is the 1974 collection of the composer Reich's writings on music, 
including his essential essay "Music as a Gradual Process." I was 
re-reading this in advance of getting a copy of the new, revised and 
expanded edition of his writings just out from Oxford.

Francastel, Pierre
ART AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES
(Zone)
I'm still working my way through this one. It's more about architecture 
than it is about any other form of art, but it's still essential reading 
for folks who aren't shy about the influence of technological advancement 
on art -- especially about the influence of mechanization and production 
lines on what had previous been understood as handcraft.

Lethem, Jonathan
"VANILLA DUNK" (a short-story from his collection: WALL OF THE SKY, WALL OF 
THE EYE)
A great little story about basketball in the future. It serves as a 
transparent, and very fun, inquiry into the influence of sampling on 
creativity. In the story, future basketball players are part of a kind of 
"double draft": first, the traditional draft to determine what team they 
play on; second, a draft for what legendary bball player's skill they'll 
have access to thanks to recent technological innovations (a white guy gets 
Michael Jordan's skills, which causes all sorts of strife). Written long 
before the recent Ted Williams DNA/cloning/deep-freeze brouhaha.


 - - -
Marc Weidenbaum
www.disquiet.com