ELECTRONIC MUSIC AND THE FILMS

[Written in 1945; published in Film Music Notes 1946]

IVOR DARREG

Electronic music is now coming into its own. We stand at a point where a new and engrossing chapter in musical history is just beginning. Having been, for the last two decades, a faithful servant, recording, amplifying, and reproducing speech, music, and sound effects with ever greater fidelity as time went on, electronics is now proving its ability in the direct production of all manner of musically-valuable sounds by means of the many new electronic musical instruments lately emerged from the laboratory stage. Tones of all kinds--the loudest and the softest; the deepest and the highest in pitch; pure tones, tones artificially blended with noise-sounds; rhythmic percussion, and imitative sound-effects; even the vowels and consonants of human speech and song; all these may be electronically generated and played by the musician at the keyboards of these new instruments. There are also, of course, instruments having the conventional strings or reeds, but electrically amplified.

Now that these devices have attained the practical stage, musicians--and particularly film composers--should investigate these greatly expanded resources now opened to them. Of all the forces of nature, electricity is the most refined and subtle; we may thus expect electronic musical instruments to express musical feeling much more perfectly than can ever be done with our present mechanico-acoustical instruments (brass, strings, piano, woodwinds, drums, &c.). Those composers, arrangers, conductors, and performers who employ electronic musical instruments will attain their ideals more closely. In consequence, the listener will more thoroughly enjoy what he or she hears. It does without saying that a more perfect musical rendering of dramatic emotion will prove very desirable in attaining the aims of film art.

The creative ideas of modern composers have long since become too advanced to be properly expressed through our present conventional musical instruments. The world will never know how many beautiful musical themes have been lost for all time because the composer or arranger hesitated to write passages that might be too difficult on the awkward instruments we have had to use in our orchestras. Often a melodic line or a chord will demand a certain particular tone-color to sound at its best, but if the instrument having the wanted timbre cannot play the passage easily, one will either alter the theme (to its detriment) or give it to another instrument (at a sacrifice).

Timbre, by the way, will assume greater importance in music with the advent of electronics. Tone-color will rank with rhythm, melody, and harmony as a fundamental factor in musical composition. Electronic musical instruments will even be able to hold one note and play a "melody" of different timbres on that same pitch. The performer will also possess a vibrato of tone-quality-change as well as the usual vibrati of pitch-change and loudness-change.

Special instruments for use when composing are now possible. No longer will a composer be forced to "funnel" his orchestral ideas through the relatively narrow an restricted piano bottleneck. It i apparently is not generally realized what a tyrannical stranglehold the piano has been exercising upon the composer's inspiration. True, the piano has immeasurably aided the evolution of our music; but, however benevolent it may seem, the piano's dictatorship is still a dictatorship.

Though some new rules might possible take their place, many of the thou-shalt-nots and you-mustn't-try-its of music will be swept away by electronics. A purer intonation will be available for certain adagio and largo passages. New tuning systems will come into use to meet the needs of the various less-than-semitonal scales. Atonality will greatly profit from the advantage of specially designed tone-qualities, as well as the occasional use of non-harmonically-related scale-tunings.

The electronic orchestra will have percussions with greater variety and flexibility than even our present string sections. The situation now obtaining, where string players must play eight or more to one part, will be eliminated. More players may be needed in electronic orchestras than now are being used, because there are so many new tone-colors, and the instruments which produce them will come in full sets from sopranino or contrabass; all choirs will be complete.

With the aid of electrical indicators, crescendi and diminuendi can be perfectly suited to recording requirements. Balance will be improved. There is also the possibility of specially designing instruments for film work so as to compensate for the frequency-response characteristics of the sound equipment used. A feeling of greater truth, clarity, and sincerity will result when we have instruments that are perfectly adapted to the sound-film medium.

Another field that might profitably be explored, especially when the tempo is unusually rapid or difficult sync problems occur, is that of devising instruments to play one or two octaves lower than usual, playing the recording at half or quarter speed or correspond. On reproducing the recording at normal speed, a performance of normal pitch and tempo would result, but more minutely perfected than usual.

Since instruments in electronic orchestras will be capable of playing extremely high and low tones with ease, earnest consideration ought now to be given to methods of writing such notes. Extensive use of ledger lines wearies the eyes, and the writing of interminable dotted 8va lines consumes too much of everybody's time--including that of the copyists! The new instruments deserve a break, and two or three new notational signs wouldn't strain anyone's memory unduly.

Cooperation and coordination between those musically trained and those electrically trained is urgently needed in order that we may enter the Electronic Age in Music quickly and smoothly. The "brick wall" supposed to divide music from the study of electricity and sound is purely imaginary. The attempt to stop musical progress and freeze everything at a pre-1900 condition is equally ridiculous. For this reason--to help foster an understanding of the coming importance of electronic music--the writer has engaged in both the electrical and the musical fields.

The day will come when a film without music from electronic orchestras will be as outdated as the silents.