EAI (music)

EAI (music)

EAI is a an acronym for electroacoustic improvisation. The term EAI is used to describe a broad range of musics that incorporate aspects of both electroacoustic music and free improvisation.

Origins

Live electronics has been part of the sound art world since the 1930s with the early works of John Cage. [Barry Schrader, Live/electro-acoustic music - a perspective from history and California", in Peter Nelson, Stephen Montague, Gary Montague ed. "Live Electronics", CRC Press 1991, ISBN 3718651165] [John Cage, " [http://www.johncage.info/workscage/landscape1.html Imaginary Landscape No. 1] "] Source magazine documents the activities of a number of American groups in the 1960s, [" [http://www.ubu.com/sound/source.html Source:] Music of the Avant Garde"] and in Montreal, Canada, there were two live electronic ensembles in the 1970s, MetaMusic and Sonde. [ [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=Q1ARTQ0002565 "Sociétés et ensembles de Musique nouvelle"] ] This field has expanded rapidly with the use of powerful, inexpensive laptop computers. fact|date=June 2008

EAI is rather loosely defined, but is sometimes characterized by quiet, slow moving, minimalistic textures, often based on extended droning sounds. EAI drew influence, in part, from the tradition of free improvisation but downplayed aspects that were typically associated with avant garde jazz. Combined with this was the influence of electronic and electroacoustic music, the music of American experimental composers such as John Cage and Morton Feldman, Pierre Schaeffer's musique concrete, and the so called "instrumental musique concrete" of Helmut Lachenmann. British free improvisation group AMM, particularly their guitarist Keith Rowe, contributed to the development of contemporary EAI.

Cities like New York City, Tokyo, Vienna and Berlin have all been centers of EAI. A variety of terms have been used to describe their music: "lowercase music" (a term coined by artist and musician Steve Roden for his own work), "Onkyokei" (also "onkyo") (used to describe the Japanese strains of the music), "taomud" (meaning "the area of music under discussion", an ironic acronym in lack of a better term), "New London Silence" and "Berlin reductionism". The term "EAI" is being used more frequently in describing this music.

The record labels Erstwhile Records, For 4 Ears, Cut, Durian, Charhizma, Improvised Music from Japan, Fringes Recordings and Mego have released a number of EAI albums.

Characteristics

Critic Arie Altena suggests that a defining characteristic of EAI is its "anti-virtuoso" aesthetic: as it is thought that conventional instrumental techniques are rarely emphasized in EAI, and thus there are few occasions when traditional technical virtuosity are considered appropriate. It has also been noted that many musicians in EAI studiously avoid traditional sounds and timbres, and "extended techniques" (unorthodox playing practices) appear to be standard in performance. [Arie Altena, [http://www.dnk-amsterdam.com/index.cgi?dept=2005AGENDA&article=213 review of performance by Jozef van Wissem and Tetuzi Akiyama] , DNK Amsterdam]

EAI sometimes differs significantly from music associated with the established free improvisation scene. One critic has suggested that a new vocabulary may be required to describe certain aspects of EAI. John Eyles writes,

:One of the problems of describing this music is that it requires a new vocabulary and ways of conveying its sound and impact; such vocabulary does not yet exist - how do you describe the subtle differences between different types of controlled feedback? I’ve yet to see anyone do it convincingly - hence the use of words like 'shape' and 'texture'! [John Eyles, [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=22196 review of "4g: cloud"] , All About Jazz]

Similarly, critic Jeff Siegel writes,

:In case you are as yet not indoctrinated into this music, there’s no easy road. The closest I know of to a simple explanation comes from the estimable Dominique Leone: “sort of an inverse of noise music.” That sounds about right. If you think of noise as a brick wall, then EAI is like a plaster mold of the cement in-between, an impression, a photo-negative, more silence than sound; it’s a constant hum, the first step up from complete silence; noise stripped down to a single sliver and stretched out, presumably forever. [Jeff Siegel, [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/keith-rowe-and-toshimaru-nakamura/between.htm review of "Keith Rowe and Toshimaru Nakamura: Between"] , Stylus Magazine]

Instrumentation

A variety of musical instruments can be heard in EAI, but two are prominent: the laptop computer and the prepared guitar.

Traditional acoustic musical instruments are also used, but they are often played very unconventionally, with heavy use of various extended techniques.

Prepared guitar

A prepared guitar is a guitar which has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended techniques. This practice is sometimes called tabletop guitar, as players often place the guitar flat on a table in order to manipulate it.

Pioneered by Rowe in the late '60s, prepared guitar has become very prominent in electroacoustic improvisation.

Laptop computer

Computers have been used in music since the '50s, the 1990s saw two major innovations: increases in processor speeds and software sophistication, and relatively-affordable laptop computers becoming commonplace.

With the development of increasingly sophisticated software applications, designed specifically for music and sound creation, laptops can now be used as real-time, interactive musical instruments.

Computer-using musicians like Fennesz, Peter Rehberg and Ikue Mori have also made notable contributions to improvised music.

Festivals

In Holland a tri-annual organized Output festival focuses on electroacoustic improvisation. 2004, 2007 and 2010 are the years in which the festival is organized. [http://www.outputfestival.com]

See also

* Free improvisation

References

Bibliography

* BLOCKS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE UNBROKEN CONTINUUM. (Book + DVD) 2006. Edited by Brian Marley and Mark Wastell. Published by Sound 323. 341 pages. ISBN 978-0-9551541-0-2.

References

External links

* [http://www.shef.ac.uk/misc/rec/ps/efi/ehome.html European Free Improvisation Pages]
* [http://www.addlimb.org ADDLIMB Organization]


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