The Composer's Black Box: Making Music in Cybernetic America Volume 7 by Gordon, Theodore

The Composer's Black Box: Making Music in Cybernetic America Volume 7

Stories about new musical instruments are often told as quests for new kinds of sounds. The Composer's...
$71.31 USD
$119.99 USD
$71.31 USD
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Author: Theodore Gordon
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Subtotal: $71.31
The Composer's Black Box: Making Music in Cybernetic America Volume 7 by Gordon, Theodore

The Composer's Black Box: Making Music in Cybernetic America Volume 7

$119.99 $71.31

The Composer's Black Box: Making Music in Cybernetic America Volume 7

$119.99 $71.31
Author: Theodore Gordon
Format: Paperback
Language: English

Stories about new musical instruments are often told as quests for new kinds of sounds. The Composer's Black Box asks, What happens when new musical instruments produce not only new sounds but also new dynamics of musical agency and control? And what consequences do those new dynamics have for musicality beyond sound? With a focus on five key figures--Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, Donald Buchla, Alvin Lucier, and Sun Ra--this book explores how scientific and technological developments in mid-twentieth-century America galvanized musicians to reconfigure their conceptions of sociality, freedom, and the creative self. Theodore Gordon shows how cybernetic thinking in a range of disciplines, from experimental music to jazz and electrical engineering, has shaped musical techniques and technologies and changed what it means to be a composer--or, more broadly, a music-making human--in an increasingly informational world.



Author: Theodore Gordon
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 12/02/2025
Pages: 286
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.84lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.98w x 0.94d
ISBN: 9780520410206

About the Author
Theodore Gordon is Assistant Professor of Music at Baruch College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

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