Electronic music
See also: List of electronic music genres
Electronic music
is music that employs
electronic musical instruments and electronic
music technology in its production.[1] In gen-
eral a distinction can be made between sound
produced using electromechanical means and
that produced using electronic technology.[2]
Examples of electromechanical sound produ-
cing devices include the telharmonium, Ham-
mond organ, and the electric guitar. Purely
electronic sound production can be achieved
using devices such as the Theremin, sound
synthesizer, and computer.[3]
Electronic music was once associated al-
most exclusively with Western art music but
from the late 1960s on the availability of af-
fordable music technology meant that music
produced using electronic means became in-
creasingly common in the popular domain.[4]
Today electronic music includes many variet-
ies and ranges from experimental art music
to popular forms such as electronic dance
music.
History
Late 19th century to early 20th
century
Telharmonium, Thaddeus Cahill, 1897.
The ability to record sounds is often connec-
ted to the production of electronic music, but
not absolutely necessary for it. The earliest
known sound recording device was the
phonautograph,
patented
in
1857
by
Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. It could
record sounds visually, but was not meant to
play them back.[5]
In 1878, Thomas A. Edison patented the
phonograph, which used cylinders similar to
Scott’s device. Although cylinders continued
in use for some time, Emile Berliner de-
veloped the disc phonograph in 1887.[6]
A significant invention, which was later to
have a profound effect on electronic music,
was Lee DeForest’s triode audion. This was
the first thermionic valve, or vacuum tube,
invented in 1906, which led to the generation
and amplification of electrical signals, radio
broadcasting, and electronic computation,
amongst other things.
Before electronic music, there was a grow-
ing desire for composers to use emerging
technologies for musical purposes. Several
instr