The Origins of Turntablism (a historical article written by David Charles Kramer aka DJ Buddy Holly)
The Origins of Turntablism
Written by David Charles Kramer aka DJ Buddy Holly
I. THE INTRODUCTION OF TURNTABLISM
Defining Turntablist
A Turntablist means one who has the ability to improvise on a phonograph turntable. One who uses the turntable in the spirit of a musical instrument.
The Early Turntablists
The origins of Turntablism go as far back as 1922 when Darius Milhaud was tampering with phonograph speeds. At this same point in time, Paul Hindemith and Ernst Toch superimposed phonograph recordings, employed variations in speed, pitch, height, and acoustic timbre, which was not possible in a real performance. One could also argue that Ottorino Respighi and George Antheil contributed to the art form as well by including the use of phonographs as an added instrument in their compositions. Their use of manipulating the recorded music was very minimal, if at all existent, which makes one question whether or not they could be justified as Turntablists. Edgard Varèse experimented with heavily manipulating sound recordings by playing records backwards in 1936. John Cage revolutionized music in 1939 with Imaginary Landscape No. 1, a piece written for 2 variable-speed phono turntables, frequency recordings, muted piano, and cymbal. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these events in detail and prove that the first Turntablists were Milhaud, Hindemith, Toch, Respighi, Antheil, Varèse, and Cage.
II. HISTORY OF THE PHONOGRAPH
Development
Thomas Edison was obsessed with knowledge and it paid off with the result of many inventions created during his lifetime, including the phonograph and a long lasting electric light bulb. The phonograph, although cursed by some of Edison's contemporaries, is considered by far one of his greatest inventions as he stumbled upon the creation of the phonograph without setting out to discover it. Many people did not believe that there was any use for a device that played back recordings, but his invention proved otherwise. He developed the phonograph as a result of his inventing of the telegraph and the telephone. While sending telegraphic messages through indentation on paper tape, he realized that a phone message could be recorded in a similar way. He experimented with this idea and eventually changed the medium from paper to tin foil wrapped around a metal cylinder. This machine had two diaphragm and needle units that were used for recording and playback. When one would speak into the machine, indentations were made into the cylinder by the recording needle. This creation took place in 1877 and was an exceptional discovery. His mechanic John Kreusi, who supposedly constructed the machine in 30 hours, originally built the machine. The first song to ever be recorded on a phonograph was "Mary Had a Little Lamb," which Edison used to test to machine. Edison went on to produce more than 8000 wax cylinders between 1889 and 1912.
Uses For the Machine
When Thomas Edison created the phonograph in 1877 he had no idea that it would later be used as a musical instrument. Rather, Edison predicted other possible uses and thought that it would change education, politics, and business communication in addition to providing entertainment. He had ten possible ways in which he thought the machine could be used:
1. Letter writing and all kinds of dictation without the aid of a stenographer.
2. Phonographic books, which speak to blind people without effort on their part.
3. The teaching of elocution.
4. Reproduction of music.
5. The "Family Record"--a registry of sayings, reminiscences, etc., by members of a family in their own voices, and of the last words of dying persons.
6. Music- boxes and toys.
7. Clocks that should announce in articulate speech the time for going home, going to meals, etc.
8. The preservation of languages by exact reproduction of the manner of pronouncing.
9. Educational purposes; such as preserving the explanations made by a teacher, so that the pupil can refer to them at any moment, and spelling or other lessons placed upon the phonograph for convenience in committing to memory.
10. Connection with the telephone, so as to make that instrument an auxiliary in the transmission of permanent and invaluable records, instead of being the recipient of momentary and fleeting communication.
Edison had no idea that the phonograph would start to be used as a musical instrument in 1922.
III. MILHAUD'S USE OF SPEED CONTROL
The first man to discover Turntablism was Darius Milhaud and he did so through manipulation of the speed control on the phonograph. Phonographs with variable speed control were used in the '20s to play 78 rpm records because the speed at which they were actually recorded varied between 70 to 85 rpm. Milhaud, a French composer who studied in Paris, was the first to use this method for sound design and many influences led him to this discovery. Visiting New York influenced Milhaud in jazz and had a great impact on his music. He tells us of the phonograph records he purchased while in America. "When I went back to France, I never wearied of playing over and over, on a little portable phonograph shaped like a camera, Black Swan records I had purchased in a little shop in Harlem. More than ever I was resolved to use jazz for a chamber work." We learn of Milhaud's appreciation of jazz as well as his frequent use of the turntable. Perhaps this frequent use of the phonograph opened up the doors to his speed control experiments with vocal samples.
The pitch control is one of many characteristics of a phonograph that allow its use as a musical instrument. One may wonder if adjusting the speed of a record can justify Turntablism. Just as a vocalist sings different notes in a musical scale, a Turntablist adjusts the speed of the phonograph to alter the pitch. In addition, this control also alters the BPM of the record. The first to use this technique was Darius Milhaud in 1922 with his experiments in vocal transformation on the turntable. Due to the limitations in phonograph technology during 1922, it is surprising that this discovery was made at such an early point in time.
Melodic Tone Adjustments
By tampering with the pitch of the record the Turntablist is doing two things: changing the pitch as well as changing the speed of the music or sounds that are on the recording. This is perhaps the most simple of all techniques used in turntable music but by far the most important. The turntable today has even more freedom than some instruments where pitch is concerned. On a popular instrument such as a piano, we have the notes that form the popular scales that we know of. These scales include major, minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor. What most people don't realize is that there are pitches in between the notes in these scales. Some of these pitches are used in Eastern music and are considered dissonant by our music standards here in the Western World. The turntable is able produce all of these pitches given an audio tone on a record. The one limitation is the dynamic range. Although a Turntablist is able play these pitches in between the notes played on a piano or guitar, the Turntablist is usually not given enough pitch control adjustment to even come close to the same dynamic range. In Milhaud's case, he was much more limited with control and dynamic range of the pitches he produced. His limitations were due to the technology and not his creativity. Phonograph turntables have come a long way since this time and Milhaud would be proud. Newer developments have even been made on digital turntables that allow the dynamic range to span over many octaves of pitch but it's extremely difficult to control with precision. Modern phonograph turntables consist of speed control buttons usually consisting of 33 and 1/3 RPM playback and 45 RPM playback. There is also a pitch control sliding fader on newer turntables that allows pitch changes to be performed in a more controlled fashion than that of turntables in the 1920's. Without pitch, the phonograph would be restricted to being only percussive as an instrument. Although the phonograph is able to serve many percussive functions, it is not limited to this use.
BPM Adjustments
By speaking in terms of rhythmic information, I will explain the function of the speed control and how it can alter the music. On records that contain any type of rhythmic information, the speed function serves the main purpose of altering the BPM. If we have a record spinning at 33 and 1/3 RPM and we adjust it to 45 RPM, the music increases in tempo. This is due to the record spinning faster. Besides putting the needle on the record, this is most likely the first tool to be used on a turntable by someone who wishes to manipulate the recording. As mentioned earlier, Milhaud didn't have the freedom to alter the music in pitch and BPM as much as a modern day Turntablist, but due to the fact that he was the first to do so makes him the Godfather of Turntablism. His experiments included vocal transformation and didn't venture into the percussive area. Regardless of this, he opened up the world of pitch and BPM modification on the turntable by use of the pitch control. Without Milhaud's work, it may have taken longer for the turntable to develop as a melodic and percussive instrument.
IV. HINDEMITH AND TOCH'S RECORD MONTAGES IN 1930
Paul Hindemith and Ernst Toch not only played a part in the further development of pitch and speed alteration of phonograph records, they changed the series of events of sounds, the order in which they occurred, and combined sounds from different recordings together by recycling records and creating sound montages. Their musical background was surprisingly conventional compared to the experimental music that they helped to mold through the use of phonograph records. Hindemith was a composer, conductor, and violinist from Germany who moved to the United States in 1940. He studied composition and later went on to teach at Yale University. With his expertise in music, Hindemith had a definite method to his craft concerning music theory and composition techniques. He wrote several works for chamber groups and for large orchestras. In the 1930's he wrote The Craft of Musical Composition, giving insight into his skills as a composer. Toch had many great accomplishments as well. A pianist and composer born in Vienna, Toch studied philosophy and medicine. Like Hindemith, Toch also wrote of his musical knowledge that eventually became accessible to the public. This book, called The Shaping Forces of Music, proves Toch to have a tremendous amount of knowledge in counterpoint and harmony. He went on to receive many awards for his work including the Pulitzer Prize for his Third Symphony, which was premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1955. With these remarkable musical accomplishments, it's no surprise that these musical masterminds were able to contribute to the creation of Turntablism.
How Hindemith and Toch used Turntablism
Sound montages are rather fascinating. By taking different recordings, whether music, speech, or sound effects and altering the order in which they appear, new recordings and new sounds are being created. This becomes a type of sound collage and can be quite musical depending on the artist performing it. The work of Hindemith and Toch was very abstract and used a variety of different sounds. One might say that their work was considered more experimental than musical, but disagreement arises over this statement.
Creating New Sounds
Hindemith and Toch were amazing in that they had enough knowledge to recycle records together, change the height and timbre, while furthering the manipulation of sound by pitch shifting the recording. The science behind their art is of very high stature, but I think the musicality is ever more apparent. To create a similar effect today, one might use multiple turntables and DJ mixers. Hindemith and Toch thus inspired the work that Turntablist bands are now performing. With a Turntablist band, each member of the group has a specific sound to work with. For example, one member would have a kick drum, another a snare, another a high-hat, another a bass tone, and another might have a vocal sample. They can manipulate the pitch, the rhythm, and the direction that their individual samples are playing. Combined together, an original composition is created. In this setting, the group would have much more control over the result of their sounds. Without Hindemith and Toch's work, this method may not exist. Although they couldn't play their manipulated samples back in such a controlled fashion, they still were the first to employ with method. Based on this information, Hindemith and Toch were the first Turntablists to create the philosophy that Turntable bands use today to perform music.
Vocal Pitch Transformation
Hindemith and Toch furthered the experiments and research of Darius Milhaud by using vocal pitch transformation in their Turntablism practices. They transposed the pitch of vocal sounds several octaves by changing the playback speed of the phonograph. Using the speed control Hindemith was able to transpose a vocal composition four octaves lower. He took another vocal composition and transposed it four octaves higher. Toch was able to manipulate voice samples as well, making them almost unrecognizable. He used the concept of sound-time expansion to take a choir of multiple voices and then increased the speed that the phonograph record was playing. These vocal transformation experiments created sounds that were never heard before by the human ear and proved Hindemith and Toch to be musical geniuses.
V. VARÈSE PLAYS THE RECORD BACKWARDS IN 1936
The first to receive recognition for the technique of playing the record backwards was Edgard Varèse in 1936. Varèse was a famous composer from Paris who later emigrated to New York. He created many pieces for small ensembles and orchestra and also ventured into the realm of electronic music through use of the tape recorder in the latter part of his career. Varese became tired of the tonal, textural, and timbral capabilities of acoustic instruments, which may be one of his reasons for experimenting with Turntablism. His experiments with phonograph records are often overlooked, but is without a doubt one of his greatest achievements. His discovery of reversing the audio on a record is a method that almost every Turntablist today employs with the use of phonograph instruments.
The Experiments of Varèse
Varèse did experiments with music that were way ahead of his time. Playing a record backwards may appear to be a simple thing now, but this was not the case back in 1936. No one before him had ever devised a musical experiment of this nature and his musical insight opened up many doors to the Turntablists that succeeded him. Turntables of Varèse's time did not have a reverse switch that automatically played the record backwards. This was something that had to be done manually. Also, this technique requires an extreme amount of control where one must try to control the speed at which the record is spinning. While spinning the record backwards, one can spin it at a slower tempo than the original recording, an even tempo, or fast tempo. With the right practice, a Turntablist can vary these tempos while still having complete control of the record.
Creating New Melodies
On vocal recordings spinning the record backwards can actually change the words said by the singer or speaker. By playing any melodic instruments backwards, new melodies are also created. On drum recordings, the attacks and releases of all percussive sounds reverse and create new rhythms that can be quite tasteful to the ear. Varèse was one of the most important innovators in the use of the Phonograph as an instrument. Today, the use of playing music or samples backwards is quite common. We hear DJs do back spins on turntables all the time. The Beastie Boys even use a backwards drum beat throughout the whole duration of their song "Paul Revere." For someone to be using this method in the 1930's is quite notable. Due to the early discoveries of Varèse, Turntablists commonly use this method today. In addition, most modern day turntables have a reverse play feature that does this job automatically.
VI. OTTORINO RESPIGHI AND GEORGE ANTHEIL'S SAMPLE BASED TURNTABLISM
When a Turntablist can play a record in sync with a live band or another musical recording it exemplifies Turntablism. The added element of the record becomes a new part of the musical piece. Often times the modern Turntablists will try to match the tempo and sometimes can even match the key of the song to what they are syncing the record to. During the time of early Turntablism, matching the tempo would have been quite difficult due to the limitation with the technology. However, technology is also what allowed the art form of Turntablism to exist. Ottorino and George Antheil took advantage of this and used the technique of sample based Turntablism in their musical works.
Ottorino Respighi and The Pines of Rome
Respighi was a very important post-romantic composer from Italy, a professional violinist, and a teacher of composition. He wrote famous tone poems between 1917 and 1927 and among them were The Fountains of Rome (1917), The Pines of Rome (1924), and Roman Festivals (1929). He also wrote three sets of Ancient Airs and Dances (1917, 1924, 1932), the suite The Birds (1927), composed eight operas, and wrote piano and chamber music as well. Respighi had the inspiration to use a sample of a nightingale singing in his famous work titled The Pines of Rome. Pines of Rome was a tone poem, also called a symphonic poem that is written for a full orchestra. The sample of the nightingale singing was played on a phonograph record player while the other instruments performed. The instrumentation of the piece was quite an extensive one. This wonderful composition consisted of violins, violas, cellos, basses, piccolo, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones, 6 bucinae, timpani, cymbals, small cymbals, tamborine, triangle, rattle, bass drum, tam-tam, bells, celesta, pipe organ, piano, and a phonograph turntable that played the nightingale sample. This piece has four landscapes and the use of the turntable appears in the third landscape, which is titled The Pines of Janiculum (Lento). During this landscape Respighi paints a night scene and uses the nightingale as a background sound while the music performs. The phonograph becomes part of the composition and without it the music would have a different character. Using this method was unheard of at this point of time and this event took place shortly after Milhaud made his first discoveries of Turntablism. Although the manipulation of the nightingale sample wasn't changed in terms of pitch, speed, or timbre, this tone poem justifies the use of Turntablism in that the nightingale playing on the phonograph is seen as another musical element and is key to giving this piece its unique sound.
George Antheil's Mr. Bloom and the Cyclops
George Antheil grew up in Germany, later lived in the Unites States, and then eventually moved to France. Antheil studied piano and later received formal instruction in composition. Although he often received a poor reaction from audiences who attended the performance of his works, he proved to be an innovative artist and celebrated many wonderful accomplishments. Among them were operas, orchestral works, chamber music, and music for film. One such work was a classical piece titled Mr. Bloom and the Cyclops and was written using brilliant and intriguing ideas involving the phonograph. This opera, although never realized, was a very important contribution to the world of Turntablism. Mr. Bloom and the Cyclops was one of only three multi-instrument works that involved Turntablism prior to 1945. The other two were Respighi's Pines of Rome and Cage's Imaginary Landscape No. 1. Mr. Bloom and the Cyclops was written for voice, instrumental ensemble, and phonograph. This was written in between 1924 and 1925 and it is no coincidence that this, like The Pines of Rome, appeared soon after Milhaud's discover of Turntablism.
VII. JOHN CAGE AND IMAGINARY LANDSCAPE NO. 1
John Cage was a musical performer, writer, poet and visual artist who composed around 300 works during his lifetime. Cage was also a mycologist, printmaker, and even a watercolorist. He had many abstract works and experimented heavily with sound. One might wonder what influenced Cage in his music and art. His avant-garde style was perhaps influenced by his belief in Zen Buddhism or his fascination with ordinary everyday sounds. Whether it was his Orient driven spirituality or his obsession with abstract sound, he will be remembered as one of the greatest experimental composers of the 20th-century. This goes against all odds due to the fact that the majority of the public easily rejects a lot of avant-garde composers.
The three methods of changing the pitch and speed of a recording, creating sound collages, and playing the music backwards all came together and made Cage the "King of Turntablism." John Cage not only was influenced by all of these methods in one form or another, but he went on to create an actual composition to be performed by 2 variable-speed phono-turntables, frequency recordings, muted piano, and cymbal. Cage broke through many barriers with his music despite the criticism he received throughout his years of composing. This work, titled Imaginary Landscape No. 1, was unique in so many ways yet he still managed to bring his work as a Turntablist to a commercial level with this being broadcast to radio.
The Making of Imaginary Landscape No. 1
Cage conducted many electronic experiments at the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, which led him to his work with the phonograph. Bonnie Bird, who had worked with John Cage starting in the 1930's at Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, best described Cage's work while being interviewed by Rebecca Boyle. "You could play a precise middle C on the turntable. John was intrigued to hear pure tone that could be sustained like this. Then he started playing with the dials so that the turntable went faster and slower so he got extraordinary sliding tones as the pitch changed. He created a piece that was played by manipulating two turntables. The role of the person who played it was to increase or decrease the volume or to shift the speed. He wrote it up as a score. What was intriguing for us was that it had no pulse, and we had never dealt with that before. Since the piece was called Imaginary Landscape, there was no reason we shouldn't learn to work with it." Cage made wonderful use of all the forms of Turntablism used prior to his performance of Imaginary Landscape No. 1. Using the speed control to change the pitch of the test tones on the record proved to be brilliant. Also, he made the Turntablist part of an actual ensemble and expanded on the ideas of all of those who experimented with Turntablism prior to this piece. The fact that he used two turntables in this piece was also very revolutionary in music. Most Turntablists today perform on two turntables to keep a constant beat while improvising using scratching or beat juggling. James Pritchett discusses the science behind the Turntablist techniques in his book The Music of John Cage. "The electronics battery in Imaginary Landscape No. 1 consists of devices one would expect to find in such a studio: two record turntables playing recordings of test tones (either constant frequencies or varying ones). The records can be played at either of two speeds-33 and 1/3 or 78 rpm- the speed changed by the clutch. Rhythms are produced by lifting and lowering the record needle. The effect of the pitch sliding when the turntable speed is changed is striking and eerie, and Cage has heightened this effect by combining the frequency recordings with other ominous sounds." These methods of Turntablism are still used today. This 'needle drop' technique can be seen in modern DJ battles although most Turntablists don't give credit to Cage for this discovery.
The Recognition of Turntablism
How could one ever doubt the Turntable as a musical instrument after John Cage's use of the machine in Imaginary Landscape No.1? Cage created a score for this work, performed it live with other musicians, and was even featured on the radio. By 1939, several techniques were being used to make the phonograph easily recognizable as a musical instrument. Cage not only used the techniques of the Turntablists that appeared prior to his works, but also added a lot of color to the palette by using test tones to create melodies using the phonograph. The author Rob Young describes the artform of using the phonograph as an instrument in his book Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music. "In its mechanism of repeated revolution allied with the needle's dimension of forward temporal travel along the groove, couple with the maneuverability of the vinyl object on the turntable, an industry, a new way of thinking about time itself, and an enhanced self-consciousness about the performance and recording of music, were born."
VIII. CONCLUSION
Milhaud, Hindemith, Toch, Respighi, Antheil, Varèse, and Cage are the first Turntablists. Their use of the Phonograph record player as an instrument is apparent in the early music of the 20th century. The only limitations that the composers and artists had were with the technology of their era. Milhaud, Toch, Varèse, Cage, Respighi, and Antheil were the first Turntablists and made many breakthroughs in the art form. Milhaud started Turntablism with his experiments using the speed control on the phonograph. Milhaud and Toch created sound montages and furthered Milhaud's speed control experiments. Varèse discovered the fact that playing records backwards on a phonograph can create new sounds. Respighi and Antheil used sample based Turntablism in their classical works. Finally, John Cage brought all of these experiments together with his masterpiece Imaginary Landscape No. 1. Since the early part of the 20th-century, Turntablism has evolved greatly and the methods of scratching and beat juggling now dominate the art form. These modern methods were born out of the discoveries of the early Turntablists. That all of these innovators of Turntablism were accomplished musicians, composers, and conductors is no coincidence. Without their extensive knowledge of music, these gentlemen would not have been able to bring these Turntablist techniques to fruition. The topic of the phonograph as a musical instrument has been in debate for many years. John Cage participated in a debate on the phonograph held at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1977. Members of the conference included William Ivey, Jane Jarvis, James Goodfriend, John Rockwell, and many others. Topics included the phonograph and its relationships to producers, performers, composers, modern music, and different forms of media. With all of the turntable events and discoveries starting in 1922 and beyond, one would think that such debates wouldn't be necessary. Philosophical papers concerning the phonograph have been written by people such as Theodor Adorno to discuss its relevance to society and the musical world. Most people today can't deny the musicality and the advanced techniques used by Turntablists. These techniques are now part of scratch routines performed by famous DJs such as Mix Master Mike, DJ Q-Bert, and turntable bands such as The X-Men and The Beat Junkies. These DJs have extensive record collections from years of searching for vinyl. Surprising enough, there are people around the world that have hundreds or even thousands of records of all different genres. A Turntablist takes this one step further and constructs new music from manipulating the sounds in their vinyl collection. Turntables have evolved even more and have gone digital, allowing Turntablists to perform using CDs and audio files on a laptop. There are many DJs who don't believe in these advances in technology and have decided to stay true to vinyl. When Edison originally created the phonograph, he had no way of knowing that this art form would evolve and develop into such an extensive realm of music. He didn't realize the impact that the phonograph would have on the recording arts. Many consider Turntablism to be its own musical genre in addition to its performance aspect. If the development of direct drive turntable systems had been made earlier, then perhaps using records for DJ scratching would have become popular in the 1930's. This is only one of many examples where technology has a tremendous effect on the discoveries and creation of music. Regardless of any limitations, the work of these musical geniuses created the use of the phonograph turntable as an instrument and started the origins of Turntablism.
Written by David Charles Kramer aka DJ Buddy Holly
I. THE INTRODUCTION OF TURNTABLISM
Defining Turntablist
A Turntablist means one who has the ability to improvise on a phonograph turntable. One who uses the turntable in the spirit of a musical instrument.
The Early Turntablists
The origins of Turntablism go as far back as 1922 when Darius Milhaud was tampering with phonograph speeds. At this same point in time, Paul Hindemith and Ernst Toch superimposed phonograph recordings, employed variations in speed, pitch, height, and acoustic timbre, which was not possible in a real performance. One could also argue that Ottorino Respighi and George Antheil contributed to the art form as well by including the use of phonographs as an added instrument in their compositions. Their use of manipulating the recorded music was very minimal, if at all existent, which makes one question whether or not they could be justified as Turntablists. Edgard Varèse experimented with heavily manipulating sound recordings by playing records backwards in 1936. John Cage revolutionized music in 1939 with Imaginary Landscape No. 1, a piece written for 2 variable-speed phono turntables, frequency recordings, muted piano, and cymbal. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these events in detail and prove that the first Turntablists were Milhaud, Hindemith, Toch, Respighi, Antheil, Varèse, and Cage.
II. HISTORY OF THE PHONOGRAPH
Development
Thomas Edison was obsessed with knowledge and it paid off with the result of many inventions created during his lifetime, including the phonograph and a long lasting electric light bulb. The phonograph, although cursed by some of Edison's contemporaries, is considered by far one of his greatest inventions as he stumbled upon the creation of the phonograph without setting out to discover it. Many people did not believe that there was any use for a device that played back recordings, but his invention proved otherwise. He developed the phonograph as a result of his inventing of the telegraph and the telephone. While sending telegraphic messages through indentation on paper tape, he realized that a phone message could be recorded in a similar way. He experimented with this idea and eventually changed the medium from paper to tin foil wrapped around a metal cylinder. This machine had two diaphragm and needle units that were used for recording and playback. When one would speak into the machine, indentations were made into the cylinder by the recording needle. This creation took place in 1877 and was an exceptional discovery. His mechanic John Kreusi, who supposedly constructed the machine in 30 hours, originally built the machine. The first song to ever be recorded on a phonograph was "Mary Had a Little Lamb," which Edison used to test to machine. Edison went on to produce more than 8000 wax cylinders between 1889 and 1912.
Uses For the Machine
When Thomas Edison created the phonograph in 1877 he had no idea that it would later be used as a musical instrument. Rather, Edison predicted other possible uses and thought that it would change education, politics, and business communication in addition to providing entertainment. He had ten possible ways in which he thought the machine could be used:
1. Letter writing and all kinds of dictation without the aid of a stenographer.
2. Phonographic books, which speak to blind people without effort on their part.
3. The teaching of elocution.
4. Reproduction of music.
5. The "Family Record"--a registry of sayings, reminiscences, etc., by members of a family in their own voices, and of the last words of dying persons.
6. Music- boxes and toys.
7. Clocks that should announce in articulate speech the time for going home, going to meals, etc.
8. The preservation of languages by exact reproduction of the manner of pronouncing.
9. Educational purposes; such as preserving the explanations made by a teacher, so that the pupil can refer to them at any moment, and spelling or other lessons placed upon the phonograph for convenience in committing to memory.
10. Connection with the telephone, so as to make that instrument an auxiliary in the transmission of permanent and invaluable records, instead of being the recipient of momentary and fleeting communication.
Edison had no idea that the phonograph would start to be used as a musical instrument in 1922.
III. MILHAUD'S USE OF SPEED CONTROL
The first man to discover Turntablism was Darius Milhaud and he did so through manipulation of the speed control on the phonograph. Phonographs with variable speed control were used in the '20s to play 78 rpm records because the speed at which they were actually recorded varied between 70 to 85 rpm. Milhaud, a French composer who studied in Paris, was the first to use this method for sound design and many influences led him to this discovery. Visiting New York influenced Milhaud in jazz and had a great impact on his music. He tells us of the phonograph records he purchased while in America. "When I went back to France, I never wearied of playing over and over, on a little portable phonograph shaped like a camera, Black Swan records I had purchased in a little shop in Harlem. More than ever I was resolved to use jazz for a chamber work." We learn of Milhaud's appreciation of jazz as well as his frequent use of the turntable. Perhaps this frequent use of the phonograph opened up the doors to his speed control experiments with vocal samples.
The pitch control is one of many characteristics of a phonograph that allow its use as a musical instrument. One may wonder if adjusting the speed of a record can justify Turntablism. Just as a vocalist sings different notes in a musical scale, a Turntablist adjusts the speed of the phonograph to alter the pitch. In addition, this control also alters the BPM of the record. The first to use this technique was Darius Milhaud in 1922 with his experiments in vocal transformation on the turntable. Due to the limitations in phonograph technology during 1922, it is surprising that this discovery was made at such an early point in time.
Melodic Tone Adjustments
By tampering with the pitch of the record the Turntablist is doing two things: changing the pitch as well as changing the speed of the music or sounds that are on the recording. This is perhaps the most simple of all techniques used in turntable music but by far the most important. The turntable today has even more freedom than some instruments where pitch is concerned. On a popular instrument such as a piano, we have the notes that form the popular scales that we know of. These scales include major, minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor. What most people don't realize is that there are pitches in between the notes in these scales. Some of these pitches are used in Eastern music and are considered dissonant by our music standards here in the Western World. The turntable is able produce all of these pitches given an audio tone on a record. The one limitation is the dynamic range. Although a Turntablist is able play these pitches in between the notes played on a piano or guitar, the Turntablist is usually not given enough pitch control adjustment to even come close to the same dynamic range. In Milhaud's case, he was much more limited with control and dynamic range of the pitches he produced. His limitations were due to the technology and not his creativity. Phonograph turntables have come a long way since this time and Milhaud would be proud. Newer developments have even been made on digital turntables that allow the dynamic range to span over many octaves of pitch but it's extremely difficult to control with precision. Modern phonograph turntables consist of speed control buttons usually consisting of 33 and 1/3 RPM playback and 45 RPM playback. There is also a pitch control sliding fader on newer turntables that allows pitch changes to be performed in a more controlled fashion than that of turntables in the 1920's. Without pitch, the phonograph would be restricted to being only percussive as an instrument. Although the phonograph is able to serve many percussive functions, it is not limited to this use.
BPM Adjustments
By speaking in terms of rhythmic information, I will explain the function of the speed control and how it can alter the music. On records that contain any type of rhythmic information, the speed function serves the main purpose of altering the BPM. If we have a record spinning at 33 and 1/3 RPM and we adjust it to 45 RPM, the music increases in tempo. This is due to the record spinning faster. Besides putting the needle on the record, this is most likely the first tool to be used on a turntable by someone who wishes to manipulate the recording. As mentioned earlier, Milhaud didn't have the freedom to alter the music in pitch and BPM as much as a modern day Turntablist, but due to the fact that he was the first to do so makes him the Godfather of Turntablism. His experiments included vocal transformation and didn't venture into the percussive area. Regardless of this, he opened up the world of pitch and BPM modification on the turntable by use of the pitch control. Without Milhaud's work, it may have taken longer for the turntable to develop as a melodic and percussive instrument.
IV. HINDEMITH AND TOCH'S RECORD MONTAGES IN 1930
Paul Hindemith and Ernst Toch not only played a part in the further development of pitch and speed alteration of phonograph records, they changed the series of events of sounds, the order in which they occurred, and combined sounds from different recordings together by recycling records and creating sound montages. Their musical background was surprisingly conventional compared to the experimental music that they helped to mold through the use of phonograph records. Hindemith was a composer, conductor, and violinist from Germany who moved to the United States in 1940. He studied composition and later went on to teach at Yale University. With his expertise in music, Hindemith had a definite method to his craft concerning music theory and composition techniques. He wrote several works for chamber groups and for large orchestras. In the 1930's he wrote The Craft of Musical Composition, giving insight into his skills as a composer. Toch had many great accomplishments as well. A pianist and composer born in Vienna, Toch studied philosophy and medicine. Like Hindemith, Toch also wrote of his musical knowledge that eventually became accessible to the public. This book, called The Shaping Forces of Music, proves Toch to have a tremendous amount of knowledge in counterpoint and harmony. He went on to receive many awards for his work including the Pulitzer Prize for his Third Symphony, which was premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1955. With these remarkable musical accomplishments, it's no surprise that these musical masterminds were able to contribute to the creation of Turntablism.
How Hindemith and Toch used Turntablism
Sound montages are rather fascinating. By taking different recordings, whether music, speech, or sound effects and altering the order in which they appear, new recordings and new sounds are being created. This becomes a type of sound collage and can be quite musical depending on the artist performing it. The work of Hindemith and Toch was very abstract and used a variety of different sounds. One might say that their work was considered more experimental than musical, but disagreement arises over this statement.
Creating New Sounds
Hindemith and Toch were amazing in that they had enough knowledge to recycle records together, change the height and timbre, while furthering the manipulation of sound by pitch shifting the recording. The science behind their art is of very high stature, but I think the musicality is ever more apparent. To create a similar effect today, one might use multiple turntables and DJ mixers. Hindemith and Toch thus inspired the work that Turntablist bands are now performing. With a Turntablist band, each member of the group has a specific sound to work with. For example, one member would have a kick drum, another a snare, another a high-hat, another a bass tone, and another might have a vocal sample. They can manipulate the pitch, the rhythm, and the direction that their individual samples are playing. Combined together, an original composition is created. In this setting, the group would have much more control over the result of their sounds. Without Hindemith and Toch's work, this method may not exist. Although they couldn't play their manipulated samples back in such a controlled fashion, they still were the first to employ with method. Based on this information, Hindemith and Toch were the first Turntablists to create the philosophy that Turntable bands use today to perform music.
Vocal Pitch Transformation
Hindemith and Toch furthered the experiments and research of Darius Milhaud by using vocal pitch transformation in their Turntablism practices. They transposed the pitch of vocal sounds several octaves by changing the playback speed of the phonograph. Using the speed control Hindemith was able to transpose a vocal composition four octaves lower. He took another vocal composition and transposed it four octaves higher. Toch was able to manipulate voice samples as well, making them almost unrecognizable. He used the concept of sound-time expansion to take a choir of multiple voices and then increased the speed that the phonograph record was playing. These vocal transformation experiments created sounds that were never heard before by the human ear and proved Hindemith and Toch to be musical geniuses.
V. VARÈSE PLAYS THE RECORD BACKWARDS IN 1936
The first to receive recognition for the technique of playing the record backwards was Edgard Varèse in 1936. Varèse was a famous composer from Paris who later emigrated to New York. He created many pieces for small ensembles and orchestra and also ventured into the realm of electronic music through use of the tape recorder in the latter part of his career. Varese became tired of the tonal, textural, and timbral capabilities of acoustic instruments, which may be one of his reasons for experimenting with Turntablism. His experiments with phonograph records are often overlooked, but is without a doubt one of his greatest achievements. His discovery of reversing the audio on a record is a method that almost every Turntablist today employs with the use of phonograph instruments.
The Experiments of Varèse
Varèse did experiments with music that were way ahead of his time. Playing a record backwards may appear to be a simple thing now, but this was not the case back in 1936. No one before him had ever devised a musical experiment of this nature and his musical insight opened up many doors to the Turntablists that succeeded him. Turntables of Varèse's time did not have a reverse switch that automatically played the record backwards. This was something that had to be done manually. Also, this technique requires an extreme amount of control where one must try to control the speed at which the record is spinning. While spinning the record backwards, one can spin it at a slower tempo than the original recording, an even tempo, or fast tempo. With the right practice, a Turntablist can vary these tempos while still having complete control of the record.
Creating New Melodies
On vocal recordings spinning the record backwards can actually change the words said by the singer or speaker. By playing any melodic instruments backwards, new melodies are also created. On drum recordings, the attacks and releases of all percussive sounds reverse and create new rhythms that can be quite tasteful to the ear. Varèse was one of the most important innovators in the use of the Phonograph as an instrument. Today, the use of playing music or samples backwards is quite common. We hear DJs do back spins on turntables all the time. The Beastie Boys even use a backwards drum beat throughout the whole duration of their song "Paul Revere." For someone to be using this method in the 1930's is quite notable. Due to the early discoveries of Varèse, Turntablists commonly use this method today. In addition, most modern day turntables have a reverse play feature that does this job automatically.
VI. OTTORINO RESPIGHI AND GEORGE ANTHEIL'S SAMPLE BASED TURNTABLISM
When a Turntablist can play a record in sync with a live band or another musical recording it exemplifies Turntablism. The added element of the record becomes a new part of the musical piece. Often times the modern Turntablists will try to match the tempo and sometimes can even match the key of the song to what they are syncing the record to. During the time of early Turntablism, matching the tempo would have been quite difficult due to the limitation with the technology. However, technology is also what allowed the art form of Turntablism to exist. Ottorino and George Antheil took advantage of this and used the technique of sample based Turntablism in their musical works.
Ottorino Respighi and The Pines of Rome
Respighi was a very important post-romantic composer from Italy, a professional violinist, and a teacher of composition. He wrote famous tone poems between 1917 and 1927 and among them were The Fountains of Rome (1917), The Pines of Rome (1924), and Roman Festivals (1929). He also wrote three sets of Ancient Airs and Dances (1917, 1924, 1932), the suite The Birds (1927), composed eight operas, and wrote piano and chamber music as well. Respighi had the inspiration to use a sample of a nightingale singing in his famous work titled The Pines of Rome. Pines of Rome was a tone poem, also called a symphonic poem that is written for a full orchestra. The sample of the nightingale singing was played on a phonograph record player while the other instruments performed. The instrumentation of the piece was quite an extensive one. This wonderful composition consisted of violins, violas, cellos, basses, piccolo, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones, 6 bucinae, timpani, cymbals, small cymbals, tamborine, triangle, rattle, bass drum, tam-tam, bells, celesta, pipe organ, piano, and a phonograph turntable that played the nightingale sample. This piece has four landscapes and the use of the turntable appears in the third landscape, which is titled The Pines of Janiculum (Lento). During this landscape Respighi paints a night scene and uses the nightingale as a background sound while the music performs. The phonograph becomes part of the composition and without it the music would have a different character. Using this method was unheard of at this point of time and this event took place shortly after Milhaud made his first discoveries of Turntablism. Although the manipulation of the nightingale sample wasn't changed in terms of pitch, speed, or timbre, this tone poem justifies the use of Turntablism in that the nightingale playing on the phonograph is seen as another musical element and is key to giving this piece its unique sound.
George Antheil's Mr. Bloom and the Cyclops
George Antheil grew up in Germany, later lived in the Unites States, and then eventually moved to France. Antheil studied piano and later received formal instruction in composition. Although he often received a poor reaction from audiences who attended the performance of his works, he proved to be an innovative artist and celebrated many wonderful accomplishments. Among them were operas, orchestral works, chamber music, and music for film. One such work was a classical piece titled Mr. Bloom and the Cyclops and was written using brilliant and intriguing ideas involving the phonograph. This opera, although never realized, was a very important contribution to the world of Turntablism. Mr. Bloom and the Cyclops was one of only three multi-instrument works that involved Turntablism prior to 1945. The other two were Respighi's Pines of Rome and Cage's Imaginary Landscape No. 1. Mr. Bloom and the Cyclops was written for voice, instrumental ensemble, and phonograph. This was written in between 1924 and 1925 and it is no coincidence that this, like The Pines of Rome, appeared soon after Milhaud's discover of Turntablism.
VII. JOHN CAGE AND IMAGINARY LANDSCAPE NO. 1
John Cage was a musical performer, writer, poet and visual artist who composed around 300 works during his lifetime. Cage was also a mycologist, printmaker, and even a watercolorist. He had many abstract works and experimented heavily with sound. One might wonder what influenced Cage in his music and art. His avant-garde style was perhaps influenced by his belief in Zen Buddhism or his fascination with ordinary everyday sounds. Whether it was his Orient driven spirituality or his obsession with abstract sound, he will be remembered as one of the greatest experimental composers of the 20th-century. This goes against all odds due to the fact that the majority of the public easily rejects a lot of avant-garde composers.
The three methods of changing the pitch and speed of a recording, creating sound collages, and playing the music backwards all came together and made Cage the "King of Turntablism." John Cage not only was influenced by all of these methods in one form or another, but he went on to create an actual composition to be performed by 2 variable-speed phono-turntables, frequency recordings, muted piano, and cymbal. Cage broke through many barriers with his music despite the criticism he received throughout his years of composing. This work, titled Imaginary Landscape No. 1, was unique in so many ways yet he still managed to bring his work as a Turntablist to a commercial level with this being broadcast to radio.
The Making of Imaginary Landscape No. 1
Cage conducted many electronic experiments at the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, which led him to his work with the phonograph. Bonnie Bird, who had worked with John Cage starting in the 1930's at Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, best described Cage's work while being interviewed by Rebecca Boyle. "You could play a precise middle C on the turntable. John was intrigued to hear pure tone that could be sustained like this. Then he started playing with the dials so that the turntable went faster and slower so he got extraordinary sliding tones as the pitch changed. He created a piece that was played by manipulating two turntables. The role of the person who played it was to increase or decrease the volume or to shift the speed. He wrote it up as a score. What was intriguing for us was that it had no pulse, and we had never dealt with that before. Since the piece was called Imaginary Landscape, there was no reason we shouldn't learn to work with it." Cage made wonderful use of all the forms of Turntablism used prior to his performance of Imaginary Landscape No. 1. Using the speed control to change the pitch of the test tones on the record proved to be brilliant. Also, he made the Turntablist part of an actual ensemble and expanded on the ideas of all of those who experimented with Turntablism prior to this piece. The fact that he used two turntables in this piece was also very revolutionary in music. Most Turntablists today perform on two turntables to keep a constant beat while improvising using scratching or beat juggling. James Pritchett discusses the science behind the Turntablist techniques in his book The Music of John Cage. "The electronics battery in Imaginary Landscape No. 1 consists of devices one would expect to find in such a studio: two record turntables playing recordings of test tones (either constant frequencies or varying ones). The records can be played at either of two speeds-33 and 1/3 or 78 rpm- the speed changed by the clutch. Rhythms are produced by lifting and lowering the record needle. The effect of the pitch sliding when the turntable speed is changed is striking and eerie, and Cage has heightened this effect by combining the frequency recordings with other ominous sounds." These methods of Turntablism are still used today. This 'needle drop' technique can be seen in modern DJ battles although most Turntablists don't give credit to Cage for this discovery.
The Recognition of Turntablism
How could one ever doubt the Turntable as a musical instrument after John Cage's use of the machine in Imaginary Landscape No.1? Cage created a score for this work, performed it live with other musicians, and was even featured on the radio. By 1939, several techniques were being used to make the phonograph easily recognizable as a musical instrument. Cage not only used the techniques of the Turntablists that appeared prior to his works, but also added a lot of color to the palette by using test tones to create melodies using the phonograph. The author Rob Young describes the artform of using the phonograph as an instrument in his book Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music. "In its mechanism of repeated revolution allied with the needle's dimension of forward temporal travel along the groove, couple with the maneuverability of the vinyl object on the turntable, an industry, a new way of thinking about time itself, and an enhanced self-consciousness about the performance and recording of music, were born."
VIII. CONCLUSION
Milhaud, Hindemith, Toch, Respighi, Antheil, Varèse, and Cage are the first Turntablists. Their use of the Phonograph record player as an instrument is apparent in the early music of the 20th century. The only limitations that the composers and artists had were with the technology of their era. Milhaud, Toch, Varèse, Cage, Respighi, and Antheil were the first Turntablists and made many breakthroughs in the art form. Milhaud started Turntablism with his experiments using the speed control on the phonograph. Milhaud and Toch created sound montages and furthered Milhaud's speed control experiments. Varèse discovered the fact that playing records backwards on a phonograph can create new sounds. Respighi and Antheil used sample based Turntablism in their classical works. Finally, John Cage brought all of these experiments together with his masterpiece Imaginary Landscape No. 1. Since the early part of the 20th-century, Turntablism has evolved greatly and the methods of scratching and beat juggling now dominate the art form. These modern methods were born out of the discoveries of the early Turntablists. That all of these innovators of Turntablism were accomplished musicians, composers, and conductors is no coincidence. Without their extensive knowledge of music, these gentlemen would not have been able to bring these Turntablist techniques to fruition. The topic of the phonograph as a musical instrument has been in debate for many years. John Cage participated in a debate on the phonograph held at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1977. Members of the conference included William Ivey, Jane Jarvis, James Goodfriend, John Rockwell, and many others. Topics included the phonograph and its relationships to producers, performers, composers, modern music, and different forms of media. With all of the turntable events and discoveries starting in 1922 and beyond, one would think that such debates wouldn't be necessary. Philosophical papers concerning the phonograph have been written by people such as Theodor Adorno to discuss its relevance to society and the musical world. Most people today can't deny the musicality and the advanced techniques used by Turntablists. These techniques are now part of scratch routines performed by famous DJs such as Mix Master Mike, DJ Q-Bert, and turntable bands such as The X-Men and The Beat Junkies. These DJs have extensive record collections from years of searching for vinyl. Surprising enough, there are people around the world that have hundreds or even thousands of records of all different genres. A Turntablist takes this one step further and constructs new music from manipulating the sounds in their vinyl collection. Turntables have evolved even more and have gone digital, allowing Turntablists to perform using CDs and audio files on a laptop. There are many DJs who don't believe in these advances in technology and have decided to stay true to vinyl. When Edison originally created the phonograph, he had no way of knowing that this art form would evolve and develop into such an extensive realm of music. He didn't realize the impact that the phonograph would have on the recording arts. Many consider Turntablism to be its own musical genre in addition to its performance aspect. If the development of direct drive turntable systems had been made earlier, then perhaps using records for DJ scratching would have become popular in the 1930's. This is only one of many examples where technology has a tremendous effect on the discoveries and creation of music. Regardless of any limitations, the work of these musical geniuses created the use of the phonograph turntable as an instrument and started the origins of Turntablism.
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