Electronic and Experimental Music

Thom Holmes is a music historian and composer. He studied composition with Paul Epstein in Philadelphia, published the magazine Recordings of Experimental Music (1979–85), and worked with John Cage. He has recently been a member of Composers Inside Electronics, an electronic music performing ensemble dedicated to the realization of works by David Tudor. Holmes produces a personal blog, Noise and Notations, writes the blog Moog: A History in Recordings for the Bob Moog Foundation, and originated and maintains the Holmes Archive of Electronic Music, a curated collection of vintage electronic music recordings spanning the years 1930-85.

PART 1: ELECTRONIC MUSIC FUNDAMENTALS / 1 What Is Electronic Music? / 2 Listening to Electronic Music / 3 How Electronic Music is Composed / 4 Electronic Music Composition by Process / 5 The Physics of Musical Sound / 6 Analog and Digital Synthesis Basics / 7 Computer Music Basics / 8 Tape Composition and Sound Editing / 9 MIDI, Noise Reduction, and Audio Compression Technologies / PART 2: HISTORY OF ELECTRONIC AND COMPUTER MUSIC / 10 Earliest Experiments in Electronic Music (Pre-1920) / 11 Electronic Music Performance Instruments (1920-1940) / 12 The History of Audio Recording Technology / 13 Edgard Varèse and The Listener’s Experiment / 14 Musique Concrète In France / 15 Elektronische Musik in Germany / 16 Other European Electronic Music Studios / 17 John Cage in the United States / 18 The Columbia–Princeton Electronic Music Center, New York / 19 The Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music, Ann Arbor / 20 The Experimental Music Studio, University of Illinois / 21 The San Francisco Tape Music Center / 22 Electronic Music in Canada / 23 Radiophonic Music in the United Kingdom / 24 Electronic Music in Latin America / 25 Electronic Music in Asia and Australia / 26 Early Computer Music (1950-1969) / 27 Computer Music (1970-1985) / PART 3: MAKERS OF VINTAGE ANALOG AND DIGITAL SYNTHESIZERS / 28 Moog Analog Synthesizers / 29 Buchla Analog Synthesizers / 30 EMS Analog Synthesizers / 31 ARP Analog Synthesizers / 32 Other Analog Synthesizers / 33 Digital Synthesizers and Samplers / PART 4: LIVE ELECTRONIC MUSIC AND CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES / 34 Live Electronic Music — Foundations / 35 Live Electronic Music — Historical Practices / 36 Modern Turntablism / 37 Contemporary Software and Synthesis / 38 Eurorack / Appendix: Historic Studios of Electronic Music by World Region 1948-70