Thank you for visiting Diverse Electro-Acoustic Music.
Purpose: The purpose of this website is simple: to share information about electronic and computer music created by composers of underrepresented groups. The motivation for this information-sharing is to expand the range of electronic music that educators can access as they shape educational experiences. It has been my observation that our field’s engagement with electro-acoustic music repertoire has been focused narrowly on a quite bounded area of the musical literature. Magnificent riches exist outside this well-traversed repertory, and it is my aspiration to bring greater visibility to these electronic music compositions.
Culture: One feature of electronic music is that its technologies facilitate the convenient importation of cultural signifiers into its fabric. To name only a single example, the human voice used within the context of electronic music brings with it a beautiful and dramatic window through which meaning about elements of culture, gender, age, and identity can be derived. Deriving meaning that develops centrally from personal or cultural contexts in contrast to more theoretical frameworks is essential for the most complete understanding of this musical literature. Electronic compositions rich with cultural allusions offer audiences insight into an enormous range of human aspirations and endeavors and raise questions about ethics and morality.
Theory: While frameworks for theoretical concerns of electro-acoustic music often arise from such matters as frequency, amplitude, spectrum, signal processing, or algorithmically associated compositional techniques, extra-musical signifiers frequently play vital roles in electronic music created outside of the classic Western electro-acoustic traditions. Reasonable musical listening demands that orthodox theoretical frameworks be shifted. If an individual is to reach levels of sophisticated comprehension or appreciation of music forged outside of the established electro-acoustic traditions, I believe that theoretical frameworks that extend to cultural content are not options, but requirements. I hope that the compositions listed here will provide examples that demonstrate the need for alternative or extended theoretical frameworks. Inadequate concern with creative expression that emerges from alternative musical and cultural value systems results in a loss for us all.
Compiling: This initial list of composers and compositions offered below represents a portion of the compositions that we use in our music technology courses at the University of Oregon. The list was created through collaborative exchanges with Dr. Akiko Hatakeyama, Dr. Jon Bellona, and me. I sincerely thank them for their thoughtful contributions to the list’s formation.
Contributing: I invite you to share your lists of compositions and composers with us so that we may include them with this initial listing. In compiling this list we hope to create a musical resource that is valuable not only to electronic music educators, but to the entire electro-acoustic music community. You may contribute to this list by simply emailing me information directly at: stolet@uoregon.edu
If you choose to join this crowdsourcing effort, we ask that you send three pieces of information: 1) composer name, 2) composition title, and 3) point of access (if that composition is available at site such as YouTube, SoundCloud, or Bandcamp). The site will note your contribution to the list.
I hope the compositions on this list prove useful in your educational pursuits.
Thank you in advance for your time and attention.
Jeffrey Stolet