1.
According to the unit's lesson, what composer is generally regarded as the father
of electronic music?
Edgard Varèse
2. What was important about the first performance of Varèse's
Poème électronique
?
the
music was played on 425 speakers, placed all around the pavilion.
The 480 seconds of
music were played alongside projected images ( photographs, paintings and montage ) as well
as text by the building's architect Le Corbusier. It was perhaps the first piece of "surround
sound" and certainly of multimedia as we understand the term today.
3. What kinds of sounds did Varèse's
Poème électronique
include?
It was a montage of
"found" sounds such as a siren, train, church bells and a human voice which were recorded and
manipulated on tape and of new electronic sounds generated by a synthesizer.
4. What does the term "prepared piano" mean?
the term used to describe a grand piano
whose sound is altered by objects such as bolts, screws, rubber bands, paper, and plastic
inserted between the strings of some of the keys.
