The Composer Seduced into Programming
Gareth Loy · Perspectives of New Music · 1980
The quotation above is a statement which summarized Harry Partch's relationship both to his music and to his novel instrumental creations. Between my title and that quote, I probably needn't describe the topic of this article beyond saying that it is to show how and why the spirit which moved Partch to carpentry is at work today seducing composers, such as myself, into the task of programming computers. I will also discuss some of the implications of the role of the digital computer in music, as it is and as it may well be in the future, and make some observations on the nature of the interaction. When I mentioned the prospective title of this article to a friend, I got the reply, They always claim seduction! My friend meant, of course, that a finer look at the dynamics involved reveals a more active motivation on the part of the composer than the word seduction implies. While this is true, nonetheless the term is useful to describe something in my subjective attitude that is similar to Partch's meaning. One rather mild connotation is that of being diverted from one's original, course. I never started out to be a computer programmer, but I have certainly turned into one. Another implied meaning is more negative: being tempted against one's will into some immoral act with respect to the surrounding culture. For Partch, I get the feeling that he was an active seducee, savoring the scandal that resulted from the logical working out of his philosophic ideas. I am not yet quite so sanguine about my own sinfulness, having been until recently a good and disciplined conservatory student of Western academic music. But, as was the case with Partch, the driving force behind my own musical imagination seems to offer me little hope of any timely return to the fold.