Re: [microsound] 1st attempt bounced

[ian stewart <artsonics@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

kim cascone:
> this is utter hogwash...ask anyone at IRCAM or any other international
computer music center if the term "computer music" is "strongly associated
with a specific american aesthetic" and they'll laugh at you...the term
"computer music" still in use worldwide and represents a very strong
international community of artists and researchers...
see: Computer Music Journal/MIT Press <

I didn't realize this would be so controversial!
All I was doing was reporting a commonly held conception of what "computer 
music" is, at least that I?ve found here among UK composers. I wasn?t saying 
whether this is right or wrong, just that a lot of people make the 
association between ?computer music? and a particular aesthetic practice 
most dominant in America. And I think there are understandable reasons many 
people here make this association- the term ?computer music? historically 
comes from America- Bell Labs, Princeton and Stanford, etc where computers 
were first used in music creation. The CMJ and many important ?computer 
music? centres like CCRMA are American. Most composers who describe their 
music as "computer music" are American (Lansky, Roads, Dodge, Hiller, etc), 
although there are certainly exceptions (Risset, Xenakis).  Certainly here 
in the UK, the term "computer music" is essentially never used. I don't know 
of a single UK university offering a course in "computer music" (most call 
it "electroacoustic" or "electronic music"), while there are probably 
hundreds of American colleges who offer "computer music" programs. No one in 
France uses the term "musique d'ordinateur"; instead they use "musique 
electroacoustique", "acousmatique", "art sonore", or "musique concrete". 
There are certainly ?computer music? centres outside of America, and 
composers who consider their work ?computer music? who are not American. 
Still, the historical and geographical association with America persists 
rightly or wrongly for many, in the same way "musique concrete" is 
associated with a French aesthetic regardless of how many tape splicers are 
doing it in Chicago.
best,

ian


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