Thomas Patteson
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Writings
  • CV
  • Contact

Translating Dahlhaus and Adorno

10/18/2016

 
My latest big project is translating two essays by Carl Dahlhaus and Theodor Adorno for the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Timbre​. Stay tuned for more info!
​
Picture
Picture

"Humanophone" at fidgetspace, May 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2016

6/9/2016

 
Thanks to everyone who came out for my four-part lecture/workshop series "Humanophone" at thefidget space in Philadelphia. Here's a brief description of the event:

HUMANOPHONE: Toward an Algorithmic Music for Humans

“I like two things, clarity and complexity, which are almost mutually exclusive.” – Christian Wolff

How can we formulate clear, elegantly stated rules that both constrain performance and allow for surprises and meaningful contingencies of form? How can we create musical frameworks that are robust and flexible with regard to the number of performers, instruments, levels of skill, and venue? How can principles such as iteration and feedback enable simple musical interactions to generate complex results?

In this series of events, we will explore the possibility of algorithmic, emergent, rule-based, and generative forms of music performable by human beings. The goal is to work toward an idiom in which the sophistication of certain post-1950 practices is fused with the social and collaborative aspects of vernacular music-making. Although we will consider such relevant historical and theoretical phenomena as cybernetics, cellular automata, change-ringing, and the American experimental music tradition, the focus will be on making music, with an eye to laying the foundation for an enduring performance collective.

Each session will consist of a mix of discussion and workshop performances of model compositions and new works contributed by group members. Participants are encouraged (but not required) to take part in both components.

Presenting at "Alternative Histories of Electronic Music," London, 14-16 April 2016

6/9/2016

 
I had a great time at AHEM at the Science Museum in London, where I presented my paper on organic and mechanical metaphors for musical instruments. Great group of people and a fun exchange of ideas!
Picture

Talking about the Triadex Muse at Rutgers, 15 February 2016

2/10/2016

 
This Monday at Rutgers University I'll be presenting a short paper on the Triadex Muse, an algorithmic melody generator invented in the early 1970s by Marvin Minsky and Edward Fredkin. It's part of a one-day symposium called Expressive Engines: Musical Technologies from Automata to Robots.
Picture

Book launch event at Fidget, Friday January 8, 2016

1/1/2016

 
I'm thrilled to announce an event celebrating the release of my book Instruments for New Music this Friday at the wonderful <fidget> space in Philadelphia. The event will feature a brief set of readings from the book, live music for electronics and Disklavier by Jesse Kudler and Roger Martinez, and a cash bar and conversation to close out the evening. There will also be a raffle to win a free copy of my book!

Free admission. Please consider a donation to support the hosts.

For more info: http://www.thefidget.org/events/thomas-pattesons-book-launch-party/

UPDATE: Here are a few photos from the event, which was a huge success!
​
Picture
Picture
Picture

"Instruments for New Music"  to be published in November 2015

8/5/2015

 
My book Instruments for New Music: Sound, Technology, and Modernism is now scheduled to appear in November! Published by the University of California Press, it will be available as both a hard copy and a free, open-access e-book. 
Picture

"The Trautonium: Electro-Music and Steel Romanticism" at AMS 

7/16/2015

 
I'll be giving a presentation entitled "The Trautonium: Electro-Music and Steel Romanticism" at the 2015 annual meeting of the American Musicological Society this November in Louisville. Centering on the early electronic instrument called the Trautonium and its role in debates about technology and music in Germany during the 1930s, the talk will be based on a chapter in my forthcoming book Instruments for New Music.
Picture

"Cat Pianos, Sound-Houses, and Other Imaginary Musical Instruments" at Public Domain Review

7/15/2015

 
Deirdre Loughridge and I have published a new essay in the Public Domain Review based on our Museum of Imaginary Musical Instruments. Check it out, and please support the wonderful work of PDR!
Picture

Making New Music in Philadelphia: "Begin Anywhere" with Bowerbird

4/28/2015

 
I'm thrilled to be part of a new project that centers on the problem of building a Philadelphia-based new music ensemble. After a group of us had a number of minimally productive brainstorming sessions, we decided that the best way forward was to JFDI and start planning some concerts. The result is "Begin Anywhere: A Concert Series About Starting New Things," which combines great music and casual conversations with people who have started things of their own. The first event was on April 11; three more are slated for May 3, May 15, and June 5. 

Presenting at conference on public musicology in early 2015

10/3/2014

 
I will be presenting a paper on "Public Musicology and the Problem of New Music" at the conference "The Past, Present, and Future of Public Musicology," which will take place from January 30 to February 1, 2015, at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey. My paper will address the role of musicology for those involved in presenting and curating the diverse and often challenging world of contemporary (post-) classical music. 
<<Previous
Forward>>

    Archives

    June 2020
    July 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    May 2017
    October 2016
    June 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    August 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    October 2014
    July 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    October 2012
    June 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011

    Categories

    All
    Acousmata
    Arcana New Music Ensemble
    Bernard Parmegiani
    Blogging
    Bowerbird
    Cybernetics
    Dissertation
    Electronic Music
    Events
    Film
    Instruments For New Music
    Modular Synthesis
    Museum Of Imaginary Musical Instruments
    Philadelphia
    Pietro Grossi
    Presentations
    Roland Kayn
    Sonic Arts Union
    Teaching
    Trautonium
    Triadex Muse
    Writings

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.