Oramics - Precedents, Technology and Influence

Context电子音乐对我们的有声世界产生了戏剧性的影响。对这场革命的学术分析正在如火如荼地进行。还有相当一部分非专业人士--既有听众，也有音乐家--他们知识渊博，渴望更多地了解这一切是如何发生的：技术、技巧，以及使之发生的人。英国是新的音乐设备和艺术形式的重要熔炉，但这部“地方史”需要有重点的研究，以使学术界和公众注意到电子音乐在这里发展的确切环境。任何此类研究的名单都将不可避免地包括达芙妮·奥拉姆(1925-2003)，她是木塞混凝土的先驱，也是英国广播公司无线电工作坊的第一个创始人。1959年离开BBC后，Oram致力于自由作曲和开发一种独特的设备--Oramics Machine来实现她的音乐想法。她收集的论文和录音于2006年被金史密斯学院收购。这套藏书引起了学者、从业者、工业界和公众的国际兴趣。它曾是杂志文章、商业CD发行、短片、三次展览、广播纪录片(其中一部为BBC广播三台)、研讨会和伦敦南岸和圆屋音乐会的主题。2008年1月，最初的20世纪60年代的Oramics Machine-一种独特的用于合成和声音合成的视听设备-被认为是丢失或被摧毁的，由Oram收藏主任找到。后来，它被科学馆购买，以便按照国际标准进行保存、储存和展示。博物馆和学院签署了一项长期研究合作协议，双方都是对方在研究和开发Oramics机器方面的首选合作伙伴，目的是为研究界和普通公众产生更大的价值。在这一合作伙伴关系中，博物馆的历史和保护专业知识与金匠博物馆的互补，后者是音乐和技术的。目的本项目旨在深入研究Oramics机器和Oram收藏品。了解它的谱系对于把握奥拉姆在英国电子音乐史上的意义以及她对后来音乐的影响至关重要。她与机器的实践的视听根源仅为人所知；她的音乐审美与先锋音乐中的先行者之间的确切联系尚未被详细追踪；机器的机电混合实施的起源只被模糊地理解。这个项目将会问：对幸存的Oramics机器的近距离分析如何帮助理解它的工作原理和进化？奥拉米克斯机器在战后电子、音乐、光声和电影艺术方面的先驱是什么？在技术和创造力方面，Oramics Machine对电子音乐和计算机音乐都做出了哪些贡献？它的文化影响和遗产是什么？Oramics Machine在哪些方面是独一无二的？为什么其他人没有采用这种方法来进行电子音乐合成和作曲呢？什么样的历史叙述可以在达芙妮·奥拉姆的性别和个性与机器的形式和她的音乐输出之间建立有效的联系？应用和好处该项目不仅将产生博士学位以及口头和出版的论文，它还将为科学博物馆的主要画廊项目《建立现代通讯》做出贡献，该项目将包括展示电子产品对我们声音世界的影响，并将在展示中展示Oramics机器本身，学生将对此做出贡献。该项目还将为公众观众举办音乐会和座谈会。

ContextElectronic music has made a dramatic impact on our sound world. Academic analysis of this revolution is well under way. There is also a considerable constituency of lay people - listeners as well as musicians - who are knowledgeable, and hunger to learn more, about how this came about: the technologies, the techniques, the people who made it happen. Britain was an important crucible for new musical devices and artistic forms, but this 'local history' requires focussed studies to bring to academic and public attention the precise circumstances under which electronic music developed here. Any list of such studies will inevitably include Daphne Oram (1925 - 2003), pioneer of musique concrete and first founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. After leaving the BBC in 1959, Oram devoted herself to freelance music composition and the development of a unique device, the 'Oramics Machine' to actualise her musical ideas. Her collected papers and recordings were acquired by Goldsmiths College in 2006. The Collection generates international interest amongst academics, practitioners, industry and the general public. It has been the subject of magazine articles, commercial CD releases, short films, three exhibitions, radio documentaries (one for BBC Radio 3), a symposium, and concerts at the South Bank and the Roundhouse, London.In January 2008, the original 1960s Oramics Machine - a unique and idiosyncratic audio-visual device for composition and sound synthesis, which had been thought lost or destroyed, was located by the Director of the Oram Collection. It was later purchased by the Science Museum so that it could be conserved, stored and displayed to international standards. The Museum and the College have signed a long term research collaboration agreement in which each is the other's partner of choice in research and exploitation of the Oramics Machine, with the aim of producing greater value to both the research community and the general public. In this partnership, the Museum's historical and conservation expertise complements that at Goldsmiths, which is musicological and technical. AimsThis project aims to closely study the Oramics Machine and the Oram Collection. Understanding its genealogy is essential to grasping Oram's significance in the history of British electronic music and her impact on later music. The audio-visual roots of her practice with the Machine is known in outline only; the precise links between her musical aesthetic and its antecedents in avant garde music have not been traced in detail; and the origins of the Machine's hybrid electro-mechanical and electronic implementation are only dimly understood. The project will ask: How can close analysis of the surviving Oramics Machine inform understanding of its workings and evolution? What were the Oramics Machine's antecedents in postwar electronics, music and photophonic and film art? What contribution did the Oramics Machine make to the electronic and computer music, in terms of both technique and creativity? What is its cultural impact and legacy?In what ways is the Oramics Machine unique? Why did others not adopt this approach to electronic music synthesis and composition?What kinds of historical account can make valid connections between Daphne Oram's gender and personality on one hand and the form of the machine and her musical output on the other?Applications and benefitsNot only will the project produce a PhD and verbal and published papers, it will also contribute to the Science Museum's major gallery project, 'Making Modern Communications', which will include displays on the impact of electronics on our sound world, and which will show the Oramics Machine itself within displays to which the student will contribute. The project will also feature concerts and symposia for public audiences.