Exhibitions/sounding-circuits-audible-histories, last access Sept. 1 4, 2020. Gluck, Robert J. (2007), "The Columbia -Princeton Electronic Music ...
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References: The Electro-Acoustic Music Mine
Cluett, Seth (201 8), “Sounding Circuits: Project (EAMM). Collecting,
Audible Histories”, The New York Public Archiving, Sharing, and Exploring
Library, 201 8. www.nypl.org/events/ by Tae Hong Park
exhibitions/sounding-circuits-audible-
histories, last access Sept. 1 4, 2020. Introduction
Gluck, Robert J. (2007), “The Columbia Electro-acoustic music (EAM) is a tech-
-Princeton Electronic Music Center: nology-driven genre of art music that
Educating International Composers”, began to develop during the 1 950s.
Computer Music Journal 31 (2): 20–38. With the advent of the computer, the
Lovell, Abigail (2020), “Libraries field of EAM has since grown signific-
Digitizes Columbia-Princeton antly. EAM has established itself, in
Electronic Music Center Collection”, avant-garde and academic commu-
2020. https://blogs.cul.columbia.edu/ nities, as a significant field of artistic
spotlights/2020/07/29/columbia- creativity, research, and intellectual
princeton-electronic-music-center- inquiry that includes composers, per-
collection/, last access Sept. 1 4, 2020 formers, scholars, researchers, engi-
neers, scientists, and music practi-
Monroe, Mary (1 996), “Music at tioners. Due to the very nature of this
Columbia: The First 1 00 Years”, Music at work – including its heavy reliance on
Columbia: The First 1 00 Years, 1 996. new technologies, multi-format audio
https://exhibitions.library.columbia.ed files, idiosyncratic scores, computer
u/exhibits/show/music-centennial/ code, and schematics that describe
electronic-and-computer-music, last complex performance setups – an ap-
access Sept. 1 4, 2020. propriate and reliable method of pre-
Patterson, Nick (201 1 ), “The Archives servation is needed. For EAM, there
of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic are currently no such preservation
Music Center”, Notes 67 (3): 483–502. systems that can effectively preserve
the musical works and the software
systems, models, and knowledge that
engendered those works. Although
many of such works are presented,
performed, and temporarily stored
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during the submission, review, and conference. Every year, ICMC and
production phases of conferences SEAMUS program approximately 200
where such works are typically (~1 2% acceptance rate) and 1 00
presented, once the event is over, ar- (~20% acceptance rate) works re-
tifacts are relegated to physical and spectively. Each conference produces
digital attics of the organizers. The a single audio CD with about eight
EAMM project aims to take advantage works each: 90% to 95% of works pre-
of existing conference music collec- sented at the conferences are lost.
tion workflows that loosely resemble Since the inception of these organiza-
music curating and archiving prac- tions, both conferences have utilized
tices in an effort to collect, archive, vigorous peer-review procedures (de-
share and create portals for exploring veloped over the past 40+ years)
EAM. to curate the “best” pieces for pre-
sentation. An estimated 7,000 ICMC
Motivation and 2,500 SEAMUS works have been
lost, or are at best, inaccessible, since
EAM is typically presented in academ- the establishment of the conferences
ic settings including conferences and in the mid-1 970s.
music festivals. Upon conclusion of The mere fact that this music from
the conferences, however, both the a cadre of significant international
music and attendant data are either composers (conveniently provided
lost, or if archived, very difficult to ac- and stored digitally at conference
cess and “slowly disappearing” databases at the curating phase) is
(Cuervo 2009). In cases when frag- being lost is an issue in itself. Con-
ments of archived data do exist, they cerns are further heightened as the
remain typically offline, making access music being lost
difficult for researchers, and virtually (1 ) has significant musical and cultural
invisible to the average information value and is of historical importance,
seeker. Two of the most significant (2) plays a central role in contributing,
EAM conferences are the International informing, enriching, and expanding
Computer Music Conference (ICMC) our experience of contemporary mu-
and the Society for Electro-Acoustic sical thought and
Music in the United States (SEAMUS) a diverse musical heritage, and
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(3) has little chance of being available ample, there is the case of popular
for general public programming as music group Radiohead, who created
musical traces are erased after the one of their most successful songs
completion of events. Idioteque (2000) after fortuitously
Internationally recognized composers coming across Princeton University
typically create much of this music, Professor Paul Lansky's EAM compo-
but it does not readily fit into existing sition mild und leise (1 975). According
music industry models and preserva- to Lansky:
tion mechanisms. This situation re- “The piece [mild und leise] came out
sembles highly theoretical scientific on a Columbia/Odyssey LP in 1 975 or
research papers, which oftentimes so as a result ofa contest run by the
yield no immediate and practical ap- International Society for Contempo-
plication and neither seek recognition rary Music (ISCM). It was called Elec-
from industry, nor aim to be finan- tronic Music Winners (I've occasion-
cially successful. The difference is that ally seen it for sale on Ebay), and
for such research, reliable preserva- Jonny Greenwood [one ofRadio-
tion models do exist. head's songwriters] came across it in
Preservation in itself, however, is a used record shop when the band
just part of the problem; the materials was on tour in the United States re-
have to be both archived and accessi- cently. I think it sold about 7,000 cop-
ble. Conferences that temporarily cre- ies, which is a lot for a classical
ate databases with complicated ac- recording.” (www.music. prin-
cess mechanisms are designed for ceton.edu/paul/radiohead.ml.html,
review purposes; as such, they not last access Sept. 1 4, 2020)
only severely limit and discourage ac-
cess, but also negate the fundamental Radiohead has sold well over 30
purpose of such digital archives – to million records in total. There are, of
allow the general public to explore, course, other interesting examples
learn, and utilize materials for re- where EAM has had considerable
search, education, or to simply facilit- artistic influences on popular music
ate the enjoyment of art. There are cultures. For the band Matmos, EAM
also more “inspirational” reasons for became influential upon their discov-
providing access to EAM. For ex- ery of musique concrète techniques,
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which they have adapted as a funda- esoteric EAM resource, whether by
mental fabric of their music – utilizing chance or whether being in a privi-
everyday sounds via standard record- leged position of access. The affective
ing devices. It is no coincidence that impact of EAM that ignited innova-
both band members, Drew Daniel and tion and creativity amongst these
Martin Schmidt, have their roots in prominent musicians, and its contri-
academia and are also well versed in bution of musical culture, is immeas-
the history and literature of musique urable.
concrète (Daniel is currently a profess- The affective role that EAM has had
or of English at Johns Hopkins Uni- is not only found in artistic and musi-
versity). For Frank Zappa, the shaping cal spaces. Due to the multidisciplin-
of his music was also highly influenced ary nature of EAM, innovative re-
by EAM. His exploration of art music search and development, and
seemingly began when he found the creation of new technologies are also
album The Complete Works ofEdgard key aspects of its very existence.
Varèse, Volume One after a year-long Technological innovations are often
LP searching quest (Zappa and Oc- originally expressed in, and tightly
chiogrosso 1 989). Towards the latter coupled to, the compositions them-
part of his career, Zappa focused selves and documented in concert
much of his signature work around program notes. A plethora of ex-
the Synclavier, a digital sound syn- amples exist including pioneering
thesizer developed by Dartmouth research and development of sound
College EAM composer Jon Appleton. recording techniques with early tape
In another celebrated example, the recorders, invention of musical
Beatles wrote their infamous “sound synthesizers, and the first computer
collage piece” Revolution 9 after being language created by Max Mathews
exposed to the works of Edgard who is widely regarded as the grand-
Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and father of computer music. An espe-
Yoko Ono (MacDonald 1 994; Sheff cially impactful example of this
2000). The distinctive artistic and mu- cross-disciplinary narrative can be
sical paths of all these artists could found in EAM composer John Chow-
have been very different (perhaps for ning's invention and patenting of
the worse) if they had no access to an frequency modulation (FM) sound
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synthesis. In 1 994 FM was the “second ent biases due to practicalities that
most lucrative licensing agreement in may are not necessarily a function of
Stanford's history” (http://news. artistic or cultural significance.
stanford.edu/pr/94/940607Arc4222. Existing “professional” EAM-related
html, last access Sept. 1 4, 2020). archives include the Digital Anthology
of Recorded American Music (http://
Existing Models for EAM Preserva- www.dramonline.org, last access
tion Sept. 1 4, 2020), International Electro-
Acoustic Music Archives (http://
There are a number of existing EAM on1 .zkm.de/ zkm/e/institute/media-
preservation models today, including thek/ideama, last access Sept. 1 4,
professional archival services, com- 2020), and Ubu-Web (http://www.
mercial recordings, artists' personal ubu.com, last access Sept. 1 4, 2020).
websites, and other Internet-based DRAM is a non-profit resource (paid
sites. Artist websites are ubiquitous subscription) with 3,000-album
but have limitations as preservation archive of recorded American music,
models including some EAM. The anthology
(1 ) distribution: sites are randomly is compiled from recordings provided
spread over the Internet; to DRAM by independent record la-
(2) sustainability: hosting is often tem- bels. Although DRAM is a valuable re-
porary and maintained by the artist; source for new music and EAM, it is
and worth noting that it is limited to
(3) accessibility: the user has to sift American music recordings and works
through an ocean of data as the great already available through record la-
majority of music recommendation bels. The limited repertoire is the
research in MIR is focused on popular most significant issue – searching the
music. DRAM anthology for EAM pioneers
Few record labels publish EAM at all, John Chowning, Max Mathews, and
and the ones that do operate within Barry Truax yields no results, for ex-
a framework of economic viability, ample.
which can be at odds with artistic A second archive, IDEAMA was cre-
merit. This typically involves a curat- ated in 1 988 in an effort to preserve
ing system that can also be at times the “most endangered early [EAM]
sensitive to political factors and inher-
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works” up to around 1 970. In 1 990 the scan as many old books as we can get
project developed into a collaborative our hands on; we post essays as fast
project between Stanford University as we can OCR them.”(http://www.
and the Zentrum für Kunst und Medi- ubu. com/resources/index.html, last
entechnologie Karlsruhe (http://on1 . access Sept. 1 4, 2020) YouTube, in the
zkm.de/zkm/e/, last access Sept. 1 4, present context, could be considered
2020); 570 works, selected by an “in- a gigantic, crowdsourced version of
ternational advisory board,” are now UbuWeb. As preservation repository,
archived. These are valuable collec- however, it fails to measure up with
tions in MP3 format. The database, respect to audio quality (often sub-
now maintained by ZKM, has grown standard), stability of its content (here
since the 1 990s to include newer EAM today, gone tomorrow) and intellec-
works under the tual property management.
framework. Limitations of the IDEAMA
archive include the fact that the col- The EAMM Preservation and Archiv-
lection only catalogs works up to al Model
1 970. The extended ZKM archives in-
clude either self-submitted contribu- Multiple concerns exist in current
tions or entries curated through ZKM. EAM preservation and archival
UbuWeb is a repository that went on- models. These include:
line in 1 996 with much contemporary (1 ) the lackof established practices
avant-garde music, including EAM. As that are sustainable, expandable,
a do-it-yourself initiative, it is unsup- scalable, and diverse;
ported by any institution or industry (2) the absence of internationally ac-
partner, and although it is easily ac- cepted peer-reviewing standards;
cessible on the Internet now, it falls (3) the absence of an agreed-upon
short as a preservationlevel archival EAM metadata standard; and
resource owing to uncertainties about (4) the limited accessibility to archives
its sustainability, audio quality stand- through modern technologies.
ards, and curation process. According The Electro-Acoustic Music Mine
to their website, “UbuWeb posts much (EAMM) model attempts to contribute
of its content without permission; we in addressing the aforementioned
rip out-of-print LPs into sound files; we concerns. EAMM attempts to enhance
and contribute to, rather than replace,
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existing technologies and models of practical, infeasible, and undesirable
digital archiving methodologies. In to archive every submitted work. The
establishing protocols that are effect- AP module consists of the archival
ive, efficient, sustainable, and scalable, database that contains all media data,
EAMM attempts to address issues metadata, and any other data associ-
concerning peer-reviewing, metadata ated with a composition, including
standards, technological currency, in- performance and performer history.
terface design, development of trans- Lastly, the CBA module provides a
ferable technologies, scalability, the baseline platform for the develop-
building of low-risk structures, and ment of next generation exploration
adaptability to changing digital interfaces of the EAMM archives by
archive environments. utilizing digital signal processing
Structurally, EAMM comprise of (DSP), visualization techniques, and
three modules at various develop- music information retrieval (MIR) as
ment stages: further described below.
(a) the filtered crowdsourcing module We are currently working with NYU
(FCS), Libraries and the International Com-
(b) the archive/preservation (AP) puter Music Association (ICMA), and
module, and the New York Electro-Acoustic Music
(c) the content-based analysis (CBA) Society (NYCEMS). ICMA, in particular,
module. has a preeminent international repu-
The FCS module provides a stream- tation in the field for its sponsorship
lined crowdsourcing model for data of annual EAM conferences since
collection that is subjected 1 974; and there is ample evidence
to a “credentialed filtering” process via through these 46+ years of experi-
peer-reviewed jurying. “Filtering” the ence that ICMA conferences will con-
crowd-sourced submissions provides tinue to strive and attract the best
a mechanism for selecting the most EAM works for the foreseeable future.
significant works as determined by At the same time, the cultural value
an internationally recognized peer- of EAM extends far beyond the aca-
reviewing system. This mechanism demic community alone and we hope
helps to control the number of works that academics, music enthusiasts
we can reasonably archive, as it is im- and the general public will benefit
27array2020 archiving
from EAMM outputs which will ulti- that this, in turn, will greatly contrib-
mately include: ute towards creating an inter- nation-
(1 ) a permanent, sustainable, and ex- ally recognized EAM metadata
pandable EAM preservation repository standard. For the retroactive initiative
housed at the NYU Library; we will use the camera-ready FCS
(2) interfaces for discovery and inter- sub-module – interface used to col-
action with the material; and lect conference accepted data – to
(3) access to otherwise unavailable streamline and crowdsource the col-
EAM resources including audio files, lection of archival quality media files,
metadata, computer code, digital additional metadata, and other data
conference booklets, details about a types that we have identified as ne-
composition, performance history, cessary for our EAM metadata
and musical scores. schema.
Retroactive Archival Efforts Intellectual Property and Author
Permissions
To lay the foundation for EAMM, we
will build a historical archive that will Since our EAMM collection is interna-
salvage what is left of the recordings tional in scope, aim for its accessibility
and related data for works presented is to be as open as possible. The level
at the ICMC conferences – including of restriction for access to the material
high quality recordings and concert can be, however, individually modu-
performances whenever available – lated according to each contributing
up through 2020. We have thus far se- artist’s preferences depending on
cured the 201 1 , 201 2, and 201 8 data- enduser types: general public or
sets and are working on collecting the individuals who formally apply to us
2020 dataset. The retroactive collec- as researchers, for example. Other
tion program will not only preserve mechanisms that we are considering
this important legacy, but it will also is access limited to those physically
contribute in developing and tuning on the premises. All works is ac-
our EAM metadata set by researching companied with authorial permission
and analyzing metadata structures and all rights of the archived works in
used in the conferences. We anticipate our EAMM database will remain with
28array2020 archiving
the author. Each submitter to the physical inaccessibility of EAM for the
ICMC conference is provided with a expert and wider audience is an issue
digital agreement form where authors in itself as its current outlet mechan-
can choose to participate in archiving ism limits its exposure to the aca-
their works. As EAMM’s collection demic community, which in turn
mechanism is primarily based au- inhibits growth in musical diversity
thorial crowdsourcing paradigms, in- and the wider aesthetic and ped-
tellectual property, copyright, and agogical potential for the general
licensing issues are greatly simplified, public. The musical inaccessibility
and the EAMM archive (by virtue of its further diminishes accessibility of this
metadata structure) will itself be the work to a greater audience, a problem
place where intellectual property (IP) exacerbated by inadequate explora-
agreements with authors are docu- tion platforms for “art music” in gen-
mented. eral. These factors contribute to the
difficulty of fitting EAM to existing
Conclusion preservation models. The Electro-
Acoustic Music Mine (EAMM) at-
EAM explores and pushes artistic, tempts to address the aforemen-
aesthetic, and technical boundaries tioned issues by creating an EAM
and is typically presented by special- preservation and exploration portal
ists at academic conferences. Unlike based on:
the majority of popular music, it is not (1 ) a semi-automated crowd-sourced
economically-driven, nor reliably pre- music collection module curated
served by market mechanisms or through credentialed peer-reviewing
archival projects sponsored by indus- systems,
try, libraries, or museums. Further- (2) a comprehensive archival and pre-
more, all of the EAM data that is care- servation module, and
fully and painstakingly collected is (3) an analysis module based on the
typically lost after a conference con- timbre-centric Electro-Acoustic Music
cludes. When and if the music is Analysis (EASY) Toolbox providing an
archived, the burden to create a pre- online platform for interactive visual-
servation system falls on conference ization, navigation, and discovery of
organizers unprepared to build and EAM.
maintain a dependable archive. The
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This third module exploits Music Infor- Park Tae Hong, et al. (201 1 ). “Towards
mation Retrieval (MIR) and content- a comprehensive framework for elec-
based analysis baseline to extend and tro-acoustic music analysis.” in: Pro-
enhance traditional text-based in- ceedings ofthe International Computer
dexical discovery and delivery sys- Music Conference ICMC, Huddersfield
tems. No similar credentialed, 201 1 .
peer-reviewed preservation system Park, Tae Hong, et al. (201 4). "Towards
exists for EAM, and no MIR-based EAM Soundscape Information Retrieval
exploration interfaces exist for any (SIR)." in: Proceedings ofthe Inter-na-
kind of music archival system. tional Computer Music Conference Pro-
ceedings ICMC, Athens 201 4.
References
Teruggi, Daniel (2007). “Technology
Cuervo, Adriana P. (2009). “Ephemeral and musique concrète: The technical
music: Electronic music collections in developments of the Groupe de
the U.S.” in: Proceedings ofthe Society of Recherches Musicales and their im-
American Archivists’ 2008 Research For-
plication in musical composition.” Or-
um - Foundations and Innovations.
ganised Sound, 1 2(3): 21 3–231 .
MacDonald, Ian (1 994). Revolution in Zappa, Frank and P. Cocchiorosso
the head: The Beatles’ records and the
(1 990). The real Frank Zappa book,
sixties. New York: Henry Holt.
Touchstone, pp. 30–33.
Park T. H, Zhiye Li, and Wen Wu (2009).
“EASY does it: The Electro Acoustic
Music Analysis Tool.” in: Proceedings of
the International Conference on Music
Information Retrieval (ISMIR).
Park TaeHong, et al. (201 0). “SQEMA:
Systematic and Quantitative Electro-
Acoustic Music Analysis.” in: Proceed-
ings ofthe International Computer Mu-
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