The Dawn of Electronic Music: Pioneers and Early Experiments

The definition of electronic music is likely broader than one would initially think. It is not just referring to the Electronic Dance Music (EDM) craze reflected in more modern music, and it is defined as any music made using instruments that are electronic and electromechanical in fashion.

Looking at it with this wider lens, it becomes apparent that this form of music technically dates all the way back to the early 20th century, with electronic devices themselves being developed as early as the late 19th century.  The first compositions ever to use these devices were created in the 1920’s and 1930’s, setting off a long, winding journey that’s fostered varied music scenes over time. Importantly, this type of music has been credited with heralding positive changes to the world by creating safe spaces for marginalized communities and providing creatives more ways to amplify their voices.

The Seed Was Planted

When electronic music devices first emerged, artists being the pioneers that they are, started experimenting. The first notable instruments were the Theremin and Ondes Martenot. It was not long until more electronic music devices started popping up more frequently after the turn of the century. The tools that were initially developed were not actually for sale to the public, only used for demonstrations and public performances.

During these performances, audiences were shown reproductions of existing music as opposed to new compositions for the instruments. They were mostly seen as a novelty at first and only produced simple tones, it is the Telharmonium (an electric organ originally developed in 1896) that piqued the public interest with its ability to accurately synthesize the sound of orchestral instruments.

Critics of typical music conventions at the time saw these developments as promising, especially after they became commercially viable once it became possible to stream music through telephone networks. Essentially a Victorian Spotify, the wires from phone lines would be linked to a station where people would use machinery to pump music back through them into the connected homes.

Experiments and Early Compositions

By the 1930s, developments of the vacuum tube led to electronic instruments that shrunk in size and were amplified, thus being more practical for performance.

Sought after by studios to this day, the addition of vacuum tubes creates both an efficient and dynamic range of sound. By this point, the Theremin, Trautonium, and Ondes Martenot were being commercially produced and performances that utilized them were becoming noticed by a wider audience. During this era, these instruments were often used in orchestras by composers, allowing them to write parts for the Theremin that could otherwise be performed by string instruments, though this conventional method of use was criticized by the more avant-garde composers.

Early recording technological developments were happening concurrently with that of electronic instruments. Record players had long since become the common household item by the 1930s, and composers had already started using them to play short recordings during performances.

Composers such as Paul Hindemith and Ernst Toch experimented with record players and electronic recordings, layering recordings of instruments and vocals and varying speeds. At the same time, other composers were experimenting with sound-on-film technology, a newly-developed concept.

With this revolutionary technology, recordings could now be spliced together to create sound collages that allowed sound to be graphically generated and modified. Before long, the techniques were used to compose soundtracks for films in Germany and Russia as well as in the United States, most notably in the film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The Emergence of Electronic Studios and the Birth of Electronic Music

In the 1940s, improvements were made to tape recorders that led to composers using them as a tool for further musical experimentation by the 1950s. Avant-garde styles and music were still a strong influence while techniques with the tape recorders were being developed, leading to utilization of the medium in live performances.

After they gained popularity and financial support in Europe the first electronic music studio was eventually opened in Germany in 1953 and would become the most famous electronic music studio in the world. Located in Cologne, the radio studios of the Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) were founded by Werner Meyer-Eppler, who wrote a thesis on synthesizing music made entirely from electronically produced signals. He gave a name for these signals: “Elektronische Musik.”

Karlheinz Stockhausen was a musician who had innovative ideas for the ways sound and music could be transformed and therefore joined the studio in Cologne. Sounds made in the studio were purely electronically generated. Rather than tape manipulation, the focus was put on electronic sound modifications.

The goal was to mix authentic electronic sound plus acoustic compositions that were changed and paired with modified, electronically generated sounds. Thus, the true birth of the actual genre of Electronic Music had come about, existing as a German branch of electronic music that emphasized the purity of electronic sounds while using rhythms, varied pitches, and other music elements that can be seen in the genre to this day.

Electronic Music Becomes a Scene

Over the next couple of decades, electronic music kept slowly expanding and came into its own as a genre as bands toured and performed, holding a true spot in the music industry by the 1970s. By this point, electronically produced music truly began to break through in terms of its significant influence on music as well as pop culture. In fact, electronic music became popular enough for subgenres to emerge, such as new wave, disco, and synthpop.

Once popularized and spread around the world, electronic music evolved past being just a type of music: It became a full-on experience where people, especially people of color and queer individuals, could have a safe space to be themselves.