Peabody Computer Music: 46 Years of Looking to the Future

~ICMC 2015 - Sept. 25 - Oct. 1, 2015 - CEMI, University of North Texas Peabody Computer Music: 46 Years of Looking to the Future Dr. Geoffrey Wright Peabody Computer Music wright@peabody.jhu.edu Dr. McGregor Boyle Peabody Computer Music boyle@peabody.jhu.edu Mr. Joshua Armenta Peabody Computer Music jarmentl@jhu.edu Mr. Ryan Woodward Peabody Computer Music rwoodwa6@jhu.edu x ABSTRACT There are many significant firsts in the history of Peabody Computer Music (PCM). It is the first electronic and computer music studio in a conservatory in the United States [1]. Peabody itself is the first conservatory of music in the U.S., [1] and our parent institution, the Johns Hopkins University, is America'sfirst research university [2]. For 46 years PCM has been training highly-skilled musicians to use computers and technology for composition, performance, and music-related research. We work within the context of a conservatory that prizes the great accomplishments of the past even as we develop new musical vocabularies and techniques for the expressive musician of the future. New dean Fred Bronstein is a vital force in leading the oldest music conservatory in the U.S. into the 21st century [3]. One of his first actions was to host a university-wide symposium "What's Next for Classical Music?" [4], [5]. PCM reaches out to new international and inter-institutional collaborations. Of particular promise is the new collaboration between Peabody, Johns Hopkins and the Maryland Institute College of Art under the artistic direction of digital pioneer Thomas Dolby, recently named the first Homewood Professor of the Arts. This new enterprise, dubbed "Station North Arts", will bring together film, composition, recording arts, and computer music [6]. 1. LOOKING BACK On January 31, 2011, The Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University produced a memorial concert for Jean Eichelberger Ivey. Ivey, the founder of the Electronic Music Studio at Peabody, had passed away the previous Spring (May 2, 2010). The concert featured three of her compositions: Cortege for Charles Kent (a tape piece which was the fist piece created in the Peabody Electronic Music Studio), Aldebaran (for viola and tape), and Skaniadaryo (for piano Copyright: 02015 Dr. Geoffrey Wright et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Ms. Sunhuimei Xia Peabody Computer Music xiasunhuimei@hotmail.com and tape). In addition, there were compositions by three of her former students: McGregor Boyle, Scott Pender, and Geoffrey Wright. In between the performances friends and former students of Ivey shared their memories of her-resulting in a touching tribute to this wonderful composer, teacher, mentor, and friend. Figure 1. The George Peabody Library 1.1 46 Years of Looking to the Future The history of Electronic Music at Peabody can be traced back to a series of summer workshops in Electronic Music. These workshops, taught by Dr. Ivey, began in 1967, and focused on electronic music in the K-12 curriculum. Peabody's Electronic Music department was officially founded when Peabody purchased its first Moog modular analog synthesizer (Model 10) in 1969, and conservatory classes commenced. Robert Moog himself delivered the synthesizer to Peabody, and helped set the unit up. For several years the Moog along with three analog twochannel tape recorders, Bode filters, microphones, and other analog signal processors made up the essence of the studio. The purchase of a second, larger Moog (Model 55) in 1977 and the addition of analog four-channel and eight-channel machines expanded the studio's capabilities tremendously. The Moog synthesizers have been carefully maintained and are used regularly for educational and production purposes. This year the Moog 55 was again overhauled, meticulously restored, and has been kept in pristine condition ever since. Geoffrey Wright arrived at Peabody in 1976. The affilia - 158 - 0