Technology influences all art, and therefore all music,
including composition, performance and listening. It
always has, and it always will. For example, technical
developments in materials, mechanics and manufacturing
were important factors that permitted the piano
to supersede the harpsichord as the primary concert
Western keyboard instrument by about 1800. And
with each new technical development new performance
issues have been introduced. Piano performance
technique is quite different from harpsichord
technique, and composers responded to these differences
with new music ideas and gestures. The multiple
relationships between technology and composer and
performer are dynamic and of paramount importance
to each party. And a true consideration of any aspect
of music requires that all three areas be examined. This
has always been a part of music, and so these relationships
are inherently important within computer music.
The difference is that electronic technology has caused
a fundamental change for all aspects of music, a difference
that is as pivotal in the history of Western music
as was the shift from oral to written preservation of
music over a thousand years ago, and then also the
accessibility provided by printed music five hundred
years ago. In computer music, all parties are always
acutely aware of the presence and influence of
machine technology in both the visual and audible
realms.