Future Music, Man and Machine – illustrated talk by Phineas Head

Electronic instruments have been around for a century—-the Ondes Martenot, Theremin, Moog, and other synthesizers and samplers are now a familiar part of the musical landscape, both popular and classical. Composers from Messiaen and Cage to Jarre and Radiohead use them as they might a violin or clarinet, often scoring them alongside more conventional acoustic instruments. But the Stochastic Instruments developed by Phineas Head, researcher and lecturer at Plymouth’s dBs Institute and Stuart MacVeigh (University of Plymouth) are themselves composers who invite the player to duet with them...

Phin’s talk covers the musical background to his work in the first half, tracing a line illustrated with recordings of works from 1000AD to the present, from an anonymous 14th Codex to experimental Berlin electronica, via Mozart, Steve Reich, and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Having laid the groundwork, in the second half he introduces the machines themselves together with some live musical…