Should Read:
The Mumma papers below are certainly interesting for many reasons, feel free to read faster in the sections about his pieces if you’re not comfortable with the language, but try to focus on the ethos of his work, particularly in the first pages of his ’67 paper and in the “analog computer” section of the ’71 paper.
Mumma, G., 1967: Creative Aspects of Live-Performance Electronic Music Technology. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society.
Mumma, G., and Smoliar, S., 1971: The Computer as a Performing Instrument. Artificial Intelligence Memo No. 312, MIT.
I have also added a couple of papers on David Tudor:
Collins, Nicolas., 2004: “Composers Inside Electronics: Music after David Tudor.”Leonardo Music Journal 14.1: iv-1.
To gaze through:
Focus on the first section on Rainforest 1:
Driscoll, J., and Rogalsky, M., 2004: “David Tudor’s Rainforest: An Evolving Exploration of Resonance.” Leonardo Music Journal: 25-30.
Focus on the section on Circuits:
Kuivila, Ron., 2004: “Open Sources: Words, Circuits and the Notation-Realization Relation in the Music of David Tudor.” Leonardo Music Journal: 17-23.
Focus in particular on pages 2 & 8-12. The rest is certainly interesting if you want to keep going:
Martirano, S., 1971: Progress Report #1: Electronic Music Instrument Which Combines the Composing Process with Performance in Real Time. Sousa Archives.
Recommended:
Links in Ubuweb.com which is a great free resource.
Sonic Arts Union: listen to this version of Mumma’s Hornpipe, The electronic activity, as you can tell from the Mumma papers, happens towards the second half.
Interview with Gordon Mumma(1975), as part of the series Music with Roots in the Aether by Robert Ashley. BEWARE: it is a bit wacky… IF you don’t want to go through the whole thing, jump to minute 10 and see if it holds your interest, then to 20:00,
This is the only footage I have been able to find of Sal Martirano playing his own Sal Mar Construction, even contacting several people, including his son and his foundation. If I find more, I’ll let you know:
2 Tudor Links:
David Tudor, Bandoneon! (a combine)
Finally, a very well written thesis on the Sonic Arts Union and Mumma…:
Dewar, R., et al., 2009: Handmade Sounds: The Sonic Arts Union and American Technoculture. Ph.D. thesis, Wesleyan University.