Laurie Spiegel
Encyclopedia
Laurie Spiegel is an American composer
. She has worked at Bell Laboratories, in computer graphics
, and is known primarily for her electronic-music compositions
and her algorithmic composition software Music Mouse. She also plays the guitar
and lute
.
Spiegel, who attended Shimer College
, Brooklyn College
, and Oxford University, received a degree in social sciences and went on to study composition with Jacob Druckman
and Vincent Persichetti
at the Juilliard School
. Her early musical experiences were largely self-directed, beginning with the mandolin
, guitar
, and banjo
she had as a child, which she learned to play by ear; she taught herself Western music notation at the age of 20, after which she began writing down her compositions.
Spiegel was seen by some as a pioneer of the New York new-music scene. She withdrew from this scene in the early 1980s, believing that its focus had shifted from artistic process to product. While she continues to support herself though software development, Spiegel aims to use technology in music as a means of furthering her art rather than as an end in itself.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. She has worked at Bell Laboratories, in computer graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
, and is known primarily for her electronic-music compositions
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
and her algorithmic composition software Music Mouse. She also plays the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
.
Spiegel, who attended Shimer College
Shimer College
Shimer College is a very small, private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Founded by Frances Wood Shimer in 1853 in the frontier town of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, it was a women's school for most of its first century. It joined with the University of...
, Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
, and Oxford University, received a degree in social sciences and went on to study composition with Jacob Druckman
Jacob Druckman
Jacob Druckman was an American composer born in Philadelphia. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood and later continued his studies at the École Normale de...
and Vincent Persichetti
Vincent Persichetti
Vincent Ludwig Persichetti was an American composer, teacher, and pianist. An important musical educator and writer, Persichetti was a native of Philadelphia...
at the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
. Her early musical experiences were largely self-directed, beginning with the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, and banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
she had as a child, which she learned to play by ear; she taught herself Western music notation at the age of 20, after which she began writing down her compositions.
Spiegel was seen by some as a pioneer of the New York new-music scene. She withdrew from this scene in the early 1980s, believing that its focus had shifted from artistic process to product. While she continues to support herself though software development, Spiegel aims to use technology in music as a means of furthering her art rather than as an end in itself.
Articles & interviews
- Interview with Laurie Spiegel on Tokafi
- The Different Computer of Laurie Spiegel on radiom
Discography
- 60x60 (2006-2007) released 2008. A two-CD compilation of 60-second works from the 60x6060x6060x60 is a collection of 60 electroacoustic or acousmatic works from 60 different composers/artists, each work 60 seconds or less in duration. 60x60 project showcases sixty new works, each sixty seconds or less, by sixty composers in a continuous sixty minute concert, for a one-hour cross-section...
project. - Ooppera, 2004. An album of 10-minute operas created from processed animal sounds.
- Harmonices Mundi (1977, released 2004). A realization of KeplerJohannes KeplerJohannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican...
's vision of planetary motion. - The P-ART Project - 12 Portraits, 2001. 12-composer compilation including Spiegel's "Conversational Paws".
- Obsolete Systems, 2001. A retrospective of Spiegel's work through the 70s and 80s, performed on currently-obsolete electronic instruments.
- OHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic MusicOHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic MusicOHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music is a compilation of early electronic music and excerpts from the period of 1948 to 1980. Many included works are essentially experiments with sound, using a variety of non-traditional instruments including homemade circuits, tape ribbon and early...
, 2000. 3-CD compilation featuring Spiegel's 1974 Appalachian Grove. - Miniatures 2 - a sequence of sixty tiny masterpieces, 2000. A sixty-artist compilation soundtrack to Dan Sandin's video A Volume of Julia Sets.
- Female of the Species, a 2-CD compilation of female experimental composers
- Enhanced Gravity, 1999. Compositions as well as text and multimedia art by Spiegel, also featuring multimedia art by 9 others.
- Cocks Crow, Dogs Bark: New Compositional Intentions, 1998. Companion CD to Leonardo Music Journal #7, featuring The Unquestioned Answer, described in that journal.
- Women in Electronic Music - 1977, 1977, re-released 1998. Compilation CD of women in electronic music.
- Computer Music Journal Sound Anthology, 1996. Companion CD to the 20th Anniversary Issue of Computer Music JournalComputer Music JournalComputer Music Journal is an American academic journal that covers a wide range of topics related to digital audio signal processing and electroacoustic music. It is published on-line and in hard copy by MIT Press. The magazine is accompanied by an annual CD/DVD that collects audio and video work...
- Unseen Worlds, 1991, re-released 1994. Works by Laurie Spiegel.
- The Virtuoso in the Computer Age - III, 1993. Compilation CD of four electronic artists, featuring Spiegel's Cavis Muris (1986).
- Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record, 1992. Music from Sounds of Earth produced to be sent up on the Voyager spacecraft, containing on excerpt of Harmonices Mundi.
- New American Music Vol. 2. Out of print LP.
- The Expanding Universe. Contains 4 pieces created using the GROOVE system at Bell Labs.
- Music for New Electronic Media, 1977. Early works by several electronic composers.
External links
- Official Web Site
- http://www.voxnovus.com/composer/Laurie_Spiegel.htm"Biography on Vox NovusVox NovusVox Novus is an organization promoting contemporary composers. Founded by Robert Voisey in 2000 This organization was created for the purposes of expanding the presence of contemporary music in the public's vision, empowering composers and contemporary musicians to create, produce, and promote...
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