Lewis highlights Festival in Hop
From pianos programmed to play themselves to a jazz band's wild improvisation, Tuesday night's Festival of New Music, held in Spaulding Auditorium, delivered original sounds from electronic and computer-based composers. Electro-acoustic music has a surprisingly long history, beginning in 1759 with Jean-Baptiste de La Borde's invention of the Clavecin Electrique, which according to Joel Chadabe, author of "Electric Sound," was a "sort of keyboard-controlled carillon in which suspended bells were struck by clappers charged with static electricity." The first major electric musical instrument of the 20th century was the Telharmonium, a large keyboard instrument invented to broadcast music via telephone lines.