Volume 56, Issue 3, 3 July 2015, Pages 269-291
Science and Technology, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
Abstract
Physics and
technology have played a major role in shaping the development,
performance, interpretation and composition of music for many centuries.
From the twentieth century, electronics and communications have
provided recording and broadcasting that gives access to worldwide music
and performers of many musical genres. Early scientific influence came
via improved or totally new instruments, plus larger and better concert
halls. Instrument examples range from developments of violins or pianos
to keyed and valved wood wind and brass that offer chromatic
performance. New sounds appeared by inventions of totally new
instruments, such as the saxophone or the Theremin,
to all the modern electronic influence on keyboards and synthesisers.
Electronic variants of guitars are effectively new instruments that have
spawned totally original musical styles. All such advances have
encouraged more virtuosic performance, larger halls, a wider range of
audiences and a consequent demand and ability of composers to meet the
new challenges. Despite this immense impact, the role of physics and
technology over the last few centuries has mostly been ignored, although
it was often greater than any links to arts or culture. Recorded and
broadcast music has enhanced our expectations on performance and opened
gateways to purely electronically generated sounds, of the now familiar
electronic keyboards and synthesisers. This brief review traces some of
the highlights in musical evolution that were enabled by physics and
technology and their impact on the musical scene. The pattern from the
past is clear, and so some of the probable advances in the very near
future are also predicted. Many are significant as they will impinge on
our appreciation of both current and past music, as well as
compositional styles. Mention is made of the difference in sound between
live and recorded music and the reasons why none of us ever have
precisely the same musical experience twice, even from the same
recording. Similarly, it is impossible to appreciate earlier music from
the same perspective as occurred when it was first composed and
performed, or indeed from later interpretations. © 2014 Taylor &
Francis.
Author keywords
music; technology
ISSN: 00107514Source Type: Journal
Original language: English
DOI: 10.1080/00107514.2014.990676Document Type: Article
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd.
