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Notes

INTRODUCTION1.EdmundRusselletal.,“TheNatureofPower:Synthesizingthe

HistoryofTechnologyandEnvironmentalHistory,”TechnologyandCulture52(April2011):246–59.2.Theoccasionwasapaneltitled“DataAtmospheres,”convenedby

FrancesDysonattheannualconferenceoftheSocietyforLiterature,ScienceandtheArts,UniversityofTexas,Austin,2003.IdiscussedWhistlersandSfericsbyLucierandElectricalStormsandAeriologybyHinterding.Thewayinwhichtheseworksrequiredadifferentapproachischaracteristicofalargerproblemthatcomposersandartistsresponsivetocontemporaryconditionscanface:suchcomposersandartistsareoftennotwellservedbyprevailingcriticismorexistinghistories.Workingfromtheintegrityofsingleworksorbodiesofworkhastheadvantageofengagingthetheorizationalreadyembodiedinartisticpracticeratherthanimportingit.Ideally,suchanapproachcancounternormativecyclesofhistoryandcriticismwithanotionofartisticpossibilityfromwhichsuchworksariseinthefirstplace.3.LindaDalrympleHenderson,DuchampinContext:Scienceand

Technologyinthe“LargeGlass”andRelatedWorks(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1998).4.MichaelHeumannrecognizedtheimplicationsofWatson’ssoundsin

hisPhDdissertation,“GhostintheMachine:SoundandTechnologyinTwentieth-CenturyLiterature”(UniversityofCaliforniaatRiverside,1998),http://thelibrary.hauntedink.com/ghostinthemachine/(accessedOctober2005).AvitalRonelldiscussesWatsoninacalls-and-affectmannerfixedonWatson’sspiritisminTheTelephoneBook:Technology,

Kahn, Douglas. Earth Sound Earth Signal : Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts, University of California Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1337907.Created from yale-ebooks on 2020-02-23 06:09:57.

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Schizophrenia,ElectricSpeech(Lincoln:UniversityofNebraskaPress,1991).5.HillelSchwartz,MakingNoise:FromBabeltotheBigBangand

Beyond(NewYork:ZoneBooks,2011).6.Froma1983interviewinthedocumentaryRichardFeynman—The

LastJourneyofaGenius,BBCTVproductioninassociationwithWGBHBoston,1989.7.RichardFeynman,TheFeynmanLecturesonPhysics,vol.2,Mainly

ElectromagnetismandMatter(Philadelphia:BasicBooks,2011),20–09.Feynmancontinues:“Butnevertheless,insomesensethefieldsarereal,becauseafterweareallfinishedfiddlingaroundwithmathematicalequations—withorwithoutmakingpicturesanddrawingsortryingtovisualizethething—wecanstillmaketheinstrumentsdetectthesignalsfromMarinerIIandfindoutaboutgalaxiesabillionmilesaway,andsoon”(20–10).8.JamesClerkMaxwell’sequationsgetsubsumedunderAlbert

Einstein’selectrodynamics,whilethemorequotidianfieldsofHansChristianØrstedandMichaelFaradayandtheempiricalwavesofHeinrichHertzareignored.Everydaymediacouldserveasphilosophicalinstruments,havingrenderedsubatomicquantumactivityaudibleinthenoisefloorofelectronicsanddispatchesfromthecosmosvisibleinthestaticofanalogtelevision.R.BuckminsterFullerwasperhapsthemostupfrontabouthowmuchofthecosmosiselectromagnetic,howlittleisknownaboutit,andhowmuchthecollectiveignoranceisignored—althoughhewentoffthedeependimaginingtheeyestobeakintodish-transceivingantennasfromwhichthoughtscouldbe“eye-beamed”intothecosmosandbackandalsosuggestingthatwhatiscalledintuitionmaybecausedbyremotecosmictransmission.Andthatwasbeforehebeganentertainingtheviabilityofbodyteleportation.SeeBruceClarke,“StepstoanEcologyofSystems:WholeEarthandSystemicHolism,”inAddressingModernity:SocialSystemsTheoryandU.S.Cultures,editedbyHannesBergthallerandCarstenSchinko(Amsterdam:Rodopi,2011),259–88.9.“ElectricityandItsRelationtotheSenses,ElectricalWorld1,no.9

(May5,1883):277.10.AsLauraBrunonotes,the“modelsofthedispersionand

accumulationpatternsofradioactivefalloutisotopesprovidedthebasisforourunderstandingofpathwaysofpersistentchemicalsintheenvironment.Thepathwaysofpesticideswerecomparedtothedisseminationmodelofstrontium-90in[RachelCarson’s]SilentSpring,thefirstbestsellerabout


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environmentaldestruction.”LauraA.Bruno,“TheBequestoftheNuclearBattlefield:Science,Nature,andtheAtomDuringtheFirstDecadeoftheColdWar,”HistoricalStudiesinthePhysicalandBiologicalSciences33,no.2(2003):237–60.11.LeslieGroves,“GeneralGrove’sReporton‘Trinity,’July18,1945,”

inTheAmericanAtom:ADocumentaryHistoryofNuclearPoliciesfromtheDiscoveryofFissiontothePresent,editedbyPhilipL.Cantelonetal.(Philadelphia:UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,1991),55.“WiththeassistanceoftheOfficeofCensorshipwewereabletolimitthenewsstoriestotheapprovedreleasesupplementedinthelocalpapersbybriefstoriesfromthemanyeyewitnessesnotconnectedwithourproject.Oneofthesewasablindwomanwhosawthelight”(55).12.OneofErikSatie’scephalophones,aclassofmusicalinstruments

designedtoexistintheheadalone,hada“rangeofthirtyoctaves”butwas,heconceded,“completelyunplayable.”Anamateurtried,but“theinstrumentburst,snappedhisspine&completelyscalpedhim.”ErikSatie,AMammal’sNotebook,editedbyOrnellaVolta,translatedbyAntonyMelville(London:AtlasPress,1996),148.13.VeryLowFrequencywavesdominatebutdonotcompletelycover

thisrange.VLFisshorthand.Whenmostpeopletalkabout“radio,”theyarereferringtothedevicewithinwhichhigherfrequenciesmustbesteppeddownordemodulatedtobecomeaudible.Forexample:“InaRadioNaturereceiveralldemodulationoperations,theseparationofthecarrierfromthemodulatingsignal,areunnecessary.Thesignalthatwillbereceivedisalreadyinbaseband.Youjusthavetoreceiveitwithanantenna,andthentransformtheradiofrequencywaveintoanelectricsignal,andamplifyitenoughtodrivealoudspeakerorheadphones.”RenatoRomero,RadioNature:TheReceptionandStudyofNaturallyOriginatingRadioSignals(PottersBar:RadioSocietyofGreatBritain,2008),17–18.Shorterwavescarrymoreinformationinagivenamountoftime,soVLFisusedforspecialpurposeswherenotmuchinformation,relatively,isneeded;however,asweshallsee,VLFhasplayedabighistoricalroleinlocationandnavigation.14.RobertA.Helliwell,WhistlersandRelatedIonosphericPhenomena

(1965)(Mineola,NY:DoverPublications,2006).15.UrsulaK.Heise,“UnnaturalEcologies:TheMetaphorofthe

EnvironmentinMediaTheory,”Configurations10,no.1(Winter2002):149–68(164).16.SeeNadiaBozak,TheCinematicFootprint:Lights,Camera,


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NaturalResources(NewBrunswick,NJ:RutgersUniversityPress,2012),17–52,foratreatmentthatincludespoeticswithinagreenmediaframe.17.Forabriefintroductiontovibration,inscription,andtransmission

relatingtotechnologiesandtropesofsound,seemyintroductiontoWirelessImagination:Sound,RadioandtheAvant-Garde,editedbyDouglasKahnandGregoryWhitehead(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,1992).MybookNoise,Water,Meat:AHistoryofSoundintheArts(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,1999)focusedprimarilyonphonography,graphicalsound,rhetoricallinesofdemarcation,cinemasound,cellularinscription,andotherinscriptiveconcerns,ratherthanvibrationortransmission.18.Opticaltelegraphywasanintermediarysystem.Havinglightatits

physicalcore,ittoowastechnicallyelectromagnetic,andcomparedwithothercontemporarysystemsitwasconsiderablyfaster.Still,asAlexanderFieldhascalculated,athirty-five-signalmessagefromParistoLilleonthemostsophisticatedsystemintheworldintheearlynineteenthcenturywouldrequirerelaysbetweentwenty-twostations,eachstaffedwithitsowntelegrapher,andwouldrequireatotaltransmissiontimeofapproximatelyeighteenminutes.AlexanderJ.Field,“FrenchOpticalTelegraphy,1793–1855:Hardware,Software,Administration,”TechnologyandCulture35,no.2(April1994):315–47.Therefore,althoughtheopticaltelegraphicsystemtransmittedatthespeedoflightwhenenoughlightwasavailable—withvisualimpedimentslikefog,rain,andsnowpermitting—electromagneticspeedswentinandoutofcircuitwiththeslower,metabolicallybasedenergiesofthehumanbody.Electricaltelegraphyplacedthemetabolicswitches(telegraphers)ateitherendofthetransmissionandallowedtheinterveningspacetoaspiretothespeedoflight.Asopposedtotheexpensesinvolvedwithopticaltelegraphy,generalcommunicationbecameaffordableanddiffusionbegantobejoinedwithtransmission,aunionthathasbecomeincreasinglysophisticatedtothepresentday.19.Foruseofthetelephone,microphone,andphonographforscientific

purposes,seeCountDuMoncel,TheTelephone,theMicrophoneandthePhonograph(NewYork:Harper&Brothers,1879).20.FriedrichKittler,Gramophone,Film,Typewriter(Stanford,CA:

StanfordUniversityPress,1999);FriedrichKittler,DiscourseNetworks1800/1900(Stanford,CA:StanfordUniversityPress,1990).21.FriedrichKittler,“MediaWars:Trenches,Lightning,Stars,”in

Literature,Media,InformationSystems(Amsterdam:OverseasPublishersAssociation,1997),117–29.In“ThereIsNoSoftware”(inthesamebook,


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pp.147–55),thistrajectoryisextended;thephysicallimitsofcomputingaretestedby“digitalizingthebodyofrealnumbersformerlyknownasnature”(152)andthereencounter,finally,anoisyenergeticsofelectrondiffusionandquantum-mechanicaltunnelingintheenvironmentofthechip,suggestinganerogenousandcosmicunionwherecomputerscanstoptalkingwitheachotherandenter“thatbodyofrealnumbersoriginallyknownaschaos”(155).

1.THOMASWATSON1.CharlesSüsskind,“ObservationsofElectromagnetic-WaveRadiation

beforeHertz,”Isis55,no.179(March1964):32–43(33).2.Ibid.3.Seethechapter“WirelessbeforeMarconi,”inHistoryofWireless,

byTapanK.Sarkaretal.(Hoboken,NJ:JohnWiley&Sons,2006),247–66.4.AlexanderGrahamBell,“ResearchesinElectricTelephony,”Journal

oftheSocietyofTelegraphEngineers6,no.20(October31,1877):385–421.5.JohnJosephFahie,AHistoryofWirelessTelegraphy:1838–1899

(Edinburgh:WilliamBlackwoodandSons,1899).6.ThomasA.Watson,ExploringLife:TheAutobiographyofThomasA.

Watson(NewYork:D.AppletonandCompany,1926),62.IamindebtedtoGeorgeKupczakattheAT&TArchivesandHistoryCenterandalsoWilliamWinternitzandSusanCheeverfortheirassistanceonThomasWatson.7.WatsonherereferstothemachineshopofCharlesWilliamsonthe

thirdfloorandatticof109CourtStreet,Boston,wherehehadworkedforalmostfouryears.Theshopbuiltalimitedrangeofelectricaldevicesusedduringtheday(telegraphapparatuses,firealarmsandotherbells,batteries,etc.).Later,therewasanotherlineconnectingtheExeterlaboratorywithanofficeonPearlStreetthatitselfwasconnectedwithatelegraphlinereceivingatimesignalfromtheHarvardObservatoryinCambridge.“Atnight,whenthesignalwirewasnotinuse,wecouldconnectupthecircuittoCambridgeforourexperiments.”Watson,ExploringLife,80–82,105.8.AsRobertHelliwellwrites,“Somewhistlersareverypuregliding

tones;otherssound‘swishy’—muchlikeairescapingfromapuncturedKahn, Douglas. Earth Sound Earth Signal : Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts, University of California Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1337907.Created from yale-ebooks on 2020-02-23 06:09:57.

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balloontire.”RobertA.Helliwell,WhistlersandRelatedIonosphericPhenomena(1965)(Mineola,NY:DoverPublications,1993),1–2.However,theincongruityofWatson’sdescriptionofthegratingsoundlastingtwotothreeseconds,whereaswhistlersusuallylastabouthalfthattime,maybeattributabletohismemoryfiftyyearsafterthefact.Helliwellprovidesageneraldescriptionoftweeks:“Theradiationfromthelightningstroketravelsatapproximatelythespeedoflightinthespacebetweentheearthandtheloweredgeoftheionosphere,calledtheearth-ionospherewaveguide.Attimeswhenthereflectionefficiencyoftheionosphereishighthisradiationmayechobackandforthbetweentheboundariesofthewaveguidemanytimesbeforedisappearingintothebackgroundnoise.Thenthereceiveddisturbanceconsistsofaseriesofimpulses,whichproducesafaintlymusicalorchirpingsound.Thisparticulartypeofatmosphericisusuallycalleda‘tweek’”(2).9.WilliamF.Channing,“OverheardbyTelephone.TheMusicin

Providence,”JournaloftheTelegraph10,no.24(December16,1877):376–77.“Similarly,thefirsthearingofelectricsoundsfromtheaurorabytelephoneisduetoProf.JohnPeirce(EmeritusProfessorofBrownUniversity).”LetterfromWilliamF.ChanningtoAlexanderGrahamBell,July16,1877,AlexanderGrahamBellFamilyPapers,LibraryofCongress,http://rs6.loc.gov(accessed2005).10.AnnualReportoftheChiefSignal-OfficertotheSecretaryofWar

fortheYear1877(Washington,DC:GovernmentPrintingOffice,1877),482.11.Ibid.12.Analysisandfurtherobservationsofwhistlersweremadeagain

fromtheSonnblickObservatoryin1902byVictorConrad,andagainin1928and1954byJosefFuchs.JosefFuchs,“DieSende-undEmpfangsverhältnissefürdrahtloseTelegraphieamSonnblick,”inXXXVIIJahresberichtdesSonnblick-Vereines,fürDasJahr1928,editedbyWilhelmSchmidt(Vienna:JuliusSpringer,1929),31–37;JosefFuchs,“ReportonSomeObservationsonAtmosphericElectricity,”inProceedingsontheConferenceonAtmosphericElectricity(HeldatWentworth-by-the-Sea,Portsmouth,NewHampshire,May19–21,1954),editedbyRobertE.HolzerandWaldoE.Smith(HanscomAirForceBase,Bedford,MA:AirForceCambridgeResearchLabs,1955).FuchsmentionedthisresearchduringdiscussionsattheTwelfthGeneralAssemblyofURSI(InternationalScientificRadioUnion),August22–September5,1957,Boulder,CO,proceedingspublishedasAReporttotheNationalAcademyofSciences—NationalResearchCouncil,Publication581(1958),includinghisown


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observationsattheSonnblickObservatoryin1928,whenheheard“ashortwhistleofdecreasingmusicalfrequency,lastingabout0.2seconds,withirregularintervalsbetweentwowhistlersoftenuptoseveralseconds.Thisphenomenonsoundssomewhatsimilartothewhistleproducedbyaflickwithawhip”(105).ThejournalSciencereportedobservationsfromtheSonnblickObservatoryin1896butexplanationwasframedintermsof“atmosphericelectricity”and“earthcurrents.”“CurrentNotesonMeteorology:AtmosphericElectricityandTelephones,”Science4,no.96(October30,1896):650–51.ThetelephonelineatSonnblickwasaprimitiveversionoftheresearchantennaatSipleStation,Antarctica,a21.2-kilometerdipoleantennaforreceptionandtransmissionofVLFsignals.R.A.HelliwellandJ.P.Katsufrakis,“ControlledWave-ParticleInteractionExperiments,”inUpperAtmosphereResearchinAntarctica,editedbyL.J.LanzerottiandC.G.Park,AntarcticResearchPapers29(Washington,DC:AmericanGeophysicalUnion,1978),100–129.13.E.T.BurtonandE.M.Boardman,“Audio-FrequencyAtmospherics,”

ProceedingsoftheInstituteofRadioEngineers21,no.10(October1933):1476–94(1488).SeealsoRushF.Chase,“Occurrenceof‘Tweeks’onaTelephoneLine,”ProceedingsoftheInstituteofRadioEngineers26,no.11(November1938):1380–84.14.Watson,ExploringLife,80–82.15.Ibid.,121.16.CharlesFourier,ThePassionsoftheHumanSoul,andTheir

InfluenceonSocietyandCivilization,vol.1,translatedbyHughDoherty(London:HippolyteBailliere,1851),151ff;NikolaTesla,“TalkingwiththePlanets,”Collier’sWeekly(February19,1901):4–5.17.DanielGethmann,“Visual(Ec)Static:OnNationalRadioSilence

Day,”inSoundArt:SchriftenreihefürKünstlerpublikationen,editedbyAnneThurmann-Jajesetal.(Cologne:SalonVerlag,2005),105–31.18.E.C.Baker,SirWilliamPreece,F.R.S.:VictorianEngineer

Extraordinary(London:Hutchinson&Co.,1976),281–82.19.ThomasA.Watson,FromElectronstoGod:ANewConceptionof

LifeandtheUniverse(Boston:Privatelyprinted,1933),10.20.Watson,ExploringLife,80–82.21.Ibid.22.Ibid.,14–15.23.Watson,FromElectronstoGod;ThomasWatson,“TheReligionof


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anEngineer”(May15,1930),18-pageunpublishedtypescript,andThomasWatson,“TheEarth,aVastOrchestra”(October1,1932),three-pageunpublishedtypescript,bothin“ArticleswrittenbyThomasWatson,1892;1909–1933,”Box1068,AT&TArchivesandHistoryCenter,Warren,NJ.24.GustavFechner,TheLittleBookofLifeafterDeath,withan

introductionbyWilliamJames(Boston:Little,Brown&Company,1912).25.Watson,“TheEarth,aVastOrchestra,”1.26.Watson,FromElectronstoGod,3.27.Watson,“ReligionofanEngineer,”3.

2.MICROPHONICIMAGINATION1.“Microphone,”TelegraphicJournal6,no.134(September1,1878):

369.2.“AnIntroductionEssaytotheDoctrineofSounds,ContainingSome

ProposalsfortheImprovementofAcousticks;AsItWasPresentedtotheDublinSocietyNovember12,1683,bytheRightReverendFatherinGodNarcissusLordBishopofFernsandLeighlin,”PhilosophicalTransactionsoftheRoyalSociety14(1684):472–88.3.JohnJosephFahie,AHistoryofWirelessTelegraphy:1838–1899

(Edinburgh:WilliamBlackwoodandSons,1899),79.4.JamesClerkMaxwell,“TheRedeLecture,”Nature18,no.343(June

6,1878):159–63.5.JohnG.McKendrick,“LaboratoryNotes,”Nature18,no.452(June

27,1878):240–41.6.M.d’Arsondal,“TheTelephoneasaGalvanoscope,”Journalofthe

FranklinInstitute105,no.6(June1878):423.“Theamountofcurrentwhichwillactuateatelephonereceiversoastomakeanaudiblesoundisextremelysmall,amerefractionofamilliampere,andforthisreasonitisoneofthemostdelicategalvanoscopesthatwehave.”GeorgeT.Hanchett,“UseoftheTelephoneasaGalvanoscope,”ElectricalEngineer24,no.503(December28,1897):596–97,citedinSidneyH.Aronoson,“TheLancetontheTelephone:1876–1975,”MedicalHistory21(1977):69–87.SeealsoGeorgeForbes,“TheTelephone:AnInstrumentofPrecision,”Nature17,no.343(February28,1878):343.7.D.E.Hughes,“OntheActionofSonorousVibrationsinVaryingthe

ForceofanElectricCurrent,”ProceedingsoftheRoyalSocietyofLondonKahn, Douglas. Earth Sound Earth Signal : Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts, University of California Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1337907.Created from yale-ebooks on 2020-02-23 06:09:57.

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27(1878):362–69.8.Ibid.,366.9.Ibid.10.Ibid.11.“TheMicrophone,”NewYorkTimes(August31,1878):2.12.Crookes,citedin“Microphone,”JournaloftheFranklinInstitute

106,no.1(July1878):63;“ThePhonesoftheFuture,”NewYorkTimes(June9,1878):6;“TheMicrophone,”Littell’sLivingAge137,no.1775(June22,1878):764–65;“WondersoftheMicrophone,”ChristianAdvocate69,no.48(November29,1894):791;CountDuMoncel,TheTelephone,theMicrophoneandthePhonograph(NewYork:Harper&Brothers,1879),146(“trumpetingofanelephant”and“asthmaticelephant”);FrancisJehl,MenloParkReminiscences(Dearborn,MI:EdisonInstitute,1937),140.Thefly’sintrepiddescendantsmarchedtheirwayintoexperimentalmusicwhenonecriticforNewsweekmagazine,reviewingJohnCage’sWilliamsMix,statedthatheheardasound“likeaflywalkingonpaper,magnified,”whereasCagehimselfknewthat“soundslikeantswalkinginthegrass”couldbeenlargedandheardusing“newtechniques”unimaginabletoGoethe’sYoungWerther,andsaidthatitwouldbe“quitereasonabletoimaginethatwewillhavealoudspeakerthatwillbeabletoflythroughspace.”RobertDumm,“SoundStuff,”Newsweek(January11,1954):76;MichaelKirbyandRichardSchechner,“AnInterviewwithJohnCage,”TulaneDramaReview10,no.2(Winter1965);54,65–66.ThiswouldberealizedwhenWalterMurch’ssoundfilmtechniqueof“worldizing,”thatis,recordingasoundplayedbackonsetorinanotherspace,wastakenintotheinsectworldbySkipLivesayusingasmallspeakertowavethesoundofamosquitoaroundinBartonFink.13.D.E.Hughes,“OnthePhysicalActionoftheMicrophone,”

PhilosophicalMagazine6,no.34(July1878):44–50(46).14.Maxwell,“TheRedeLecture,”162.GeorgePrescottdisagreedwith

theanalogyofthemicroscopeanditsindexicalcapabilitiesandinsteadattributedtheeffecttoamediationofthedevice:“Thesoundthatisheardinthereceivinginstrumentofthemicrophone,whenaflyiswalkingacrosstheboardonwhichthetransmitterisplaced,isnotthesoundofthefly’sfootsteps,anymorethanthestrokeofapowerfulelectricbell,orsounder,isthemagnifiedsoundoftheoperator’sfingerstappinglightlyand,itmaybe,inaudiblyuponthekey.”GeorgePrescott,Bell’sElectricSpeakingTelephone(NewYork:D.Appleton&Company,1884),140.


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15.“TheMicrophone,”Littell’sLivingAge,764–65.16.McKendrick,“LaboratoryNotes,”240–41.17.“Dermatophony,”MedicalNews37no.437(May1879):78.18.Prescott,Bell’sElectricSpeakingTelephone,140;W.H.Preece,

“OnSomePhysicalPointsConnectedwiththeTelephone,”JournaloftheFranklinInstitute105,no.4(April1878):278.19.Hughes,“OntheActionofSonorousVibrations,”365.20.“TheMicrophone,”NewYorkTimes,3.21.TelegraphicJournalandElectricalReview(July1,1878):274,cited

inFrederickLelandRhodes,BeginningsofTelephony(NewYork:Harper&Brothers,1929),78.“Themicrophoneaffordsanotherinstanceoftheunexpectedvalueofminutevariations—inthiscaseofelectriccurrents;anditisremarkablethatthegistoftheinstrumentseemstolieinobtainingandperfectingthatwhichelectricianshavehithertomostscrupulouslyavoided,viz,loosecontact.”TelegraphicJournalandElectricalReview(August15,1878):340.22.Suchsoundsonlycompoundedtheexistingproblems:“thata

conversationoverawireofconsiderablelengthhas,asitwere,torunthegauntletamongthescrapsoftalkimpartedfromneighboringlines,thecracklingandhammeringduetoinductionfromtelegraphandelectriclightwires,andthevaguemurmurcompoundedofaninfinitenumberoflesserdisturbances;anditisnotsurprisingthatitissoonoverwhelmedbysomanyadverseinfluences.”“TelephonicDefects,”ManufacturerandBuilder5,no.7(July1883):159.23.“TelephoneSounds,”ScientificAmerican47,no.10(September2,

1882):153.24.“ThePhonesoftheFuture,”NewYorkTimes(June9,1878):6.25.Ibid.26.P.C.B.,“Phonomime,Autophone,andKosmophone,”lettertothe

editor,NewYorkTimes(June11,1878):5.IamindebtedtoProfessorPaulIsraelofRutgersUniversity,directorandgeneraleditoroftheThomasA.EdisonPapersProject,forkindlyprovidinginformationregardingBliss.27.“TheMicrophone,”Littell’sLivingAge,764–65.

3.THEAEOLIANANDHENRYDAVIDTHOREAU’SSPHEREMUSIC


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1.CarlEngel,“AeolianMusic,”MusicalTimes23,no.4(August,1882):436.Theessayconcludesinissueno.5(September1882):479–83.2.Engel,“AeolianMusic,”432–33.3.EduardHanslick,“TheRelationsofMusictoNature,”inOnthe

MusicallyBeautiful:AContributiontowardstheRevisionoftheAestheticsofMusic(1854),1891editiontranslatedbyGeoffreyPayzant(Indianapolis:Hackett,1986),72,73.Foralongviewofthemusicofthedead,seeE.K.Borthwick,“TheRiddleoftheTortoiseandtheLyre,”MusicandLetters51,no.4(October1970):373–87.Thefactisthatavoicelesscreature,suchasthetortoise,orinanimate

materials,suchaswoodorgut,maybeusedtoengendermusicalsoundwhenthelifeofthecreature,orthegrowthofthematerial,isterminated.TheearliestliteraryreferencetothisparadoxisinfactthefamousmythofthelyremadebythegodHermesfromtheshellofadeadtortoise...intheHomericHymntoHermes,composedprobablyinthesixthcenturyB.C.:“ForitwasHermeswhofirstmadethetortoiseasinger.”Addressingthetortoisebeforehedismembersitandfits“twohornsandsevenstringsofsheepgut”toitsemptyshell,Hermessays:“Livingyouwillbecomeacharmagainstmischievouswitchcraft,butifyoudieyousingmostbeautifully.”(373–74)4.Hanslick,“TheRelationsofMusictoNature,”68.5.Ibid.,71.6.Engel,“AeolianMusic,”433.7.Ibid.8.Ibid.,434.9.Ibid.,435.10.JohnMuir,TheWildernessWorldofJohnMuir(Boston:Houghton

Mifflin,1954),193–94,185–86.11.ThequotationisfromThoreau’sDecember28,1851,journalentry,

inJournal,Volume4:1851–1852,editedbyRobertSattelmeyer(Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress,1990),227.12.Thoreau,journalentries,March15,1842,andMarch6,1838,

Journal:Volume1;1837–1844,editedbyElizabethHallWitherelletal.(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1990),332,and34–35.13.Thoreau,journalentry,December28,1852,Journal:Volume4,

412–13.Kahn, Douglas. Earth Sound Earth Signal : Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts, University of California Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1337907.Created from yale-ebooks on 2020-02-23 06:09:57.

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14.CharlesIves,“EssaysbeforeaSonata,”inThreeClassicsintheAestheticofMusic(NewYork:DoverPublications,1962),142.15.Thoreau,journalentry,September22,1851,Journal:Volume4,90.16.Thoreau,journalentry,January3,1852,Journal:Volume4,238.17.Thoreau,journalentry,September22,1851,Journal:Volume4,90–

91.18.KenBeauchamp,HistoryofTelegraphy(London:Institutionof

ElectricalEngineers,2001),57–58.19.PaulGilmore,“TheTelegraphinBlackandWhite,”ELH69,no.3

(2002):805–33.20.Thoreau,journalentry,June13,1851,Journal:Volume3;1848–

1851,editedbyJohnC.Broderick(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1990),260.21.HenryDavidThoreau,Walden(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversity

Press,2004),304–5.22.Thoreau,journalentry,September19,1850,Journal:Volume3,

119.23.Thoreau,journalentry,March15,1852,Journal:Volume4,388.24.Thoreau,journalentry,January23,1852,Journal:Volume4,280.25.Thoreau,journalentry,October28,1852,Journal:Volume5;1852–

1853,editedbyRobertSattelmeyer(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1990),386–87.26.Thoreau,journalentry,September22,1851,Journal:Volume4,89–

90.27.CharlesBurchfield,journalentry,January18,1915,CharlesE.

Burchfield’sJournals,vol.23,30–31,quotedinNancyWeekly,“SongoftheTelegraph:AnInterpretation,”intheexhibitionprogramforCharlesBurchfield:SongoftheTelegraph,BurchfieldPenneyArtCenter,May14–June14,2009,www.yournewburchfieldpenney.com/pdf/songOfTheTelegraph.pdf(accessedNovember5,2010).ThejournalsarepartoftheCharlesE.BurchfieldArchivesattheBurchfieldPenneyArtCenter,BuffaloStateCollege,NewYork.AllBurchfieldquotationsaretakenfromWeekly’s“SongoftheTelegraph:AnInterpretation.”IamindebtedtoNancyWeeklyforherassistanceandmyunderstandingofBurchfield’spainting.


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http://www.yournewburchfieldpenney.com/pdf/songOfTheTelegraph.pdf

28.Burchfield,journalentry,January29,1915,45–46,quotedinibid.29.Weekly,“SongoftheTelegraph:AnInterpretation.”30.ErnestineHill,TheTerritory(1951)(Sydney:Walkabout

Pocketbooks,1970),111.31.Ibid.,118.32.JamesH.Bunn,WaveForms:ANaturalSyntaxforRhythmic

Languages(Stanford,CA:StanfordUniversityPress,2002),33.33.WilliamHenryHudson,NatureinDownland(1900)(London:

Longmans,Green,1906),197–98.OnHudson,seeSimonNaylor,“DiscoveringNature,RediscoveringtheSelf:NaturalHistoriansandtheLandscapesofArgentina,”EnvironmentandPlanningD:SocietyandSpace19(2001):227–47.34.“Thereremains,youmaysay,thewireitself:butthewire,obsolete

fromthedayofitscompletion,hungdownfrompolesneverreplacedwhentheygotorotandtumbletotheground.(Sometimesthetermitesattackthem,andsometimestheIndians,whomistakethehummingofthetelegraphwiresforthenoiseofbeesontheirwaytothehive).”ClaudeLévi-Strauss,TristesTropiques(NewYork:Atheneum,1975),262.35.Hudson,NatureinDownland,197–98.36.“TheTelegraph,”Harper’sNewMonthlyMagazine47,no.279

(June–November1873):332.Theauthorofthisformidableessaywasnotlisted.37.T.MellardReade,“VibrationofTelegraphWiresduringFrost,”

Nature23,no.588(February3,1881):314.SeealsoF.T.Mott,“VibrationofTelegraphWiresduringFrost,Nature23,no.589(February10,1881):338.38.“TheTelegraph,”Harper’sNewMonthlyMagazine,332.39.Fortheroleoftelegraphyinmeteorology,seethechapter“Weather

byWire”inMarkMonmonier,AirApparent:HowMeteorologistsLearnedtoMap,Predict,andDramatizeWeather(Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,1999).40.Wm.H.Babcock,“DoTelegraph-WiresForetellStorms?”Science

5,no.119(May15,1885):396–97.Thejournaleditorsappendedanexplanation,sayingthatthesoundswereproducedby“simpletransversevibrationsandlongitudinalwavessuchasoccuroneverystretchedcordthatgivesoutamusicalnote.Thesevibrationsareultimatelycausedby


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thewind....Sometimesrapidalternationsofsunshineandshade,byheatingandcoolingthewire,causeittoelongateandcontractrapidly,andmaintainanadditionalseriesofmusicalnotes.”Seealso“TheTelegraphandtheWeather,”ScientificAmerican12,no.7(February11,1865):100:“Wethusseethatitispossiblebymerelyobservingwhetherthedisturbanceincreasesordecreases,todeterminewhenastormisapproachingusorpassingintheoppositedirection.”41.E.T.A.Hoffmann,“Automata”(Whitefish,MT:Kessinger,2004),29.

SeealsoMitchellClark,“Aeolian-BowKitesinChina,”ExperimentalMusicalInstruments14,no.3(March1999);41–45;andMitchellClark,“TheWindEnterstheStrings:PoetryandPoeticsofanAeolianSoundingoftheQin,”unpublishedmanuscript(personalcorrespondence).Anyrespectablecollectionoflarge-scaleharpsneedstoincludethemountainslopesthatErikSatiedescribesasharboring“monstrousHarpswithspecialtobogganforglissandos.”ErikSatie,AMammal’sNotebook,editedbyOrnellaVolta,translatedbyAntonyMelville(London:AtlasPress,1996),148.42.TimothyMorton,“OfMatterandMeter:EnvironmentalFormin

Coleridge’s‘Effusion35’and‘TheEolianHarp,’”LiteratureCompass5,no.2(2008):310–35(313).43.VladimirMayakovsky,“OpenLettertotheWorkers”(1918),quoted

inAnatoliiStrigalev,“TheArtoftheConstructivists:FromExhibitiontoExhibition,1914–1932,”inArtintoLife:RussianConstructivism,1914–1932(NewYork:Rizzoli,1990),27.

4.THEAELECTROSONICANDENERGETICENVIRONMENTS1.JohnHollander,TheUntuningoftheSky:IdeasofMusicinEnglish

Poetry,1500–1700(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1961).2.FriedrichNietzsche,TheGayScience(1882),translatedbyWalter

Kaufmann(NewYork:Vintage,1974),167–68.3.From“TheLamentationsofEdison,”inTomorrow’sEve(1886),by

Villiersdel’Isle-Adam,translatedbyRobertMartinAdams(Urbana:UniversityofIllinoisPress,1982),9–11.4.Thisschemaprovisionallyexcludesmanyothermeaningsof

transduction,ofcourse,yethasrelevanceforthetradebetweenacousticsandelectromagnetism,soundandsignal,andfortheoperationsofthetwomajor“publicsenses”(sightandhearing)andforaudiovisualmedia.Theemphasisisonenergy,mechanisms,andmedia,especiallyastheymight


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locatewhatgoesoninthegreyareaofblackboxes.GilbertSimondonisthemainsourceforphilosophicalusesofthetermtransduction:“Bytransductionwemeananoperation—physical,biological,mental,social—bywhichanactivitypropagatesitselffromoneelementtothenext,withinagivendomain,andfoundsthispropagationonastructurationofthedomainthatisrealizedfromplacetoplace:eachareaoftheconstitutedstructureservesastheprincipleandthemodelforthenextarea,asaprimerforitsconstitution,totheextentthatthemodificationexpandsprogressivelyatthesametimeasthestructuringoperation.”GilbertSimondon,“ThePositionoftheProblemofOntogenesis,”Parrhesia,no.7(2009):4–16.5.Foragoodintroduction,seeJonathanAshmore,“Hearing,”inSound,

editedbyPatriciaKruthandHenryStobart(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2000),65–88.In2007,theDanishartistJacobKirkegaardcreatedaperformanceandinstallationtitledLabyrinthitisutilizingotoacousticemissions.CommissionedbytheMedicalMuseioninCopenhagenandissuedonCDbyTouchin2008(Touch,Tone35),itnicelycountersMarcelDuchamp’sdictumthat“onecanlookat(see)seeing,onecannothearhearing.”FromBoxof1914,inMarcelDuchamp,SaltSeller:TheWritingsofMarcelDuchamp,editedbyMichelSanouilletandElmerPeterson(NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,1973),32.6.SeeJonathanSterne,TheAudiblePast:CulturalOriginsofSound

Reproduction(Durham,NC:DukeUniversityPress,2003).7.EdwardE.Clement,“AnthropomorphicTelephony,”Telephony5,no.

5(May1903):272–73;LauraOtis,“TheOtherEndoftheWire:UncertaintiesofOrganicandTelegraphicCommunication,”Configurations:AJournalofLiterature,Science,andTechnology9,no.2(2001):181–206.8.FrancisJehl,MenloParkReminiscences,vol.1(Dearborn,MI:

EdisonInstitute,1937),134–42,184;ThomasA.Edison,ThePapersofThomasA.Edison,vol.3,MenloPark:TheEarlyYears,April1876–December1877,editedbyRobertA.Rosenbergetal.(Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress,1994),258–59,269–71.9.AlexanderGrahamBell,“ResearchesinTelephony,”Proceedingsof

theAmericanAcademyofArtsandSciences,vol.12,May1876toMay1877(Boston:PressofJohnWilsonandSon,1877),3;C.G.Page,“TheProductionofGalvanicMusic,”Silliman’sJournal32,no.2.(1837):396–97.10.D.E.Hughes,“OntheActionofSonorousVibrationsinVaryingthe


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ForceofanElectricCurrent,”ProceedingsoftheRoyalSocietyofLondon27(1878):365.11.C.F.Volney,AViewoftheSoilandClimateoftheUnitedStatesof

America(Philadelphia:J.Conrad&Co.,1804),198.12.M.J.Fournet,“ElectricalCountriesandTheirActiononthe

Weather,”inTheIntellectualObserver:AReviewofNaturalHistory,MicroscopicResearchandRecreativeScience,vol.12(London:GroombridgeandSons,1868),134–36.13.EdwardC.Pickering,“Introduction,”AnnalsofHarvardCollege

Observatory22(1889):xi.14.Fournet,“ElectricalCountries,”134–35.15.Ibid.,135.16.Ibid.,412.17.Ibid.,414.18.“EccentricElectricity,”ElectricalWorld8,no.20(November13,

1886):239.19.“ElectrifiedLily,”JournaloftheFranklinInstitute114,no.5

(November1882):392.20.DavidLivingstone,MissionaryTravelsandResearchesinSouth

Africa(NewYork:Harper&Brothers,1858),137.21.RichardStothers,“AncientAurorae,”Isis70,no.1(March1979):

85–95.22.SamuelHearne,JourneyfromPrinceofWales’sFortinHudson

Bay,totheNorthernOcean(1795)(Toronto:ChamplainSociety,1911),235.SeealsoLaneCooper,“ADissertationuponNorthernLights,”ModernLanguageNotes21,no.2(February1906):44–46.23.S.M.SilvermanandT.F.Tuan,“AuroralAudibility,”inAdvancesin

Geophysics,vol.16,editedbyH.E.LandsbergandJ.VanMieghem(NewYork:AcademicPress,1973),252–53.24.SilvermanandTuansummarizethetheoriesastheystoodinthe

early1970s:“suchpossibilitiesaspsychologicalorigin,physiological,meteorological,directtransmissionofsound,conversionofelectromagneticwavestopressureattheear,infrasonicwaves,andelectricsideeffects,bothdirectlyaswellasindirectlythroughbrushdischarges.”SilvermanandTuan,“AuroralAudibility,”156.Theauthors


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privilegedpointandbrushdischargeofelectricalfields.Still,morerecently,NeilBonestates,“Theoccurrenceorotherwiseofauroralsoundislikelytoremaincontentiousforsometimetocome.”NeilBone,Aurora:ObservingandRecordingNature’sSpectacularLightShow(NewYork:Springer,2007),168.25.ThedescriptionsofsoundsareprimarilyfromSilvermanandTuan,

“AuroralAudibility,”155–266.AfewarefromS.Chapman,“TheAudibilityandLowermostAltitudeoftheAuroraPolaris,”Nature127,no.3201(March7,1931):341–42,and“AuroraSounds,”JournaloftheFranklinInstitute121,no.6(June1886):467.26.“TheTelegraph,”Harper’sNewMonthlyMagazine47,no.279

(June–November1873):332–60(332).27.Ibid.,332.28.Ibid.,334.29.PeterJ.Smith,“Pre-GilbertianConceptionsofTerrestrial

Magnetism,”Techtonophysics6,no.6(1968):499–510.30.See“MagneticStorms,”ScientificAmerican8,no.23(June6,

1863):418:“Magneticstormsarealwaysaccompaniedbyauroraeandearthmagneticcurrents.Thelatterareknowntotelegraphoperators....Theytraversethesurfaceoftheearth,andaportionofmagnetismistakenupbytheline-wires,seriouslydisturbingcommunications.Ithasbeenfoundthatauroraeandgreatearthcurrentsrecuratintervalsofabouttenyears,withthespotsonthesun’ssurface....Themysteriousforce‘magnetism’seemstopervadetheentiresolarsystem,andperhapsthewholeuniverse.”31.W.H.Barlow,“OntheSpontaneousElectricalCurrentsObservedin

theWiresoftheElectricalTelegraph,”PhilosophicalTransactionsoftheRoyalSocietyofLondon139(1849):61–72.32.O.H.Gish,“NaturalElectricCurrentsintheEarth’sCrust,”

ScientificMonthly32,no.1(January1931):5–21.33.GeorgeWilson,ElectricityandtheElectricTelegraph(London:

Longman,Brown,Green,Londmans,&Roberts,1859),58.34.D.H.Boteler,“TheSuperStormsofAugust/September1859and

TheirEffectsontheTelegraphSystem,”AdvancesinSpaceResearch38,no.2(2006):159–172;“TheGreatAuroralExhibitionofAugust28thtoSeptember4th,1859,”American29(May1860):92.35.Boteler,“SuperStorms,”163.Thiswasforamessagefrom


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PhiladelphiatoPittsburgh.SeealsoGish,“NaturalElectricCurrentsintheEarth’sCrust,”7;and“TelegraphLinesandtheAuroraBorealis,”ScientificAmerican20,no.23(June5,1869):357.36.“TheDisturbancesElsewhere,”NewYorkTimes(November18,

1882):1.37.W.H.Preece,compilingthereportsofothers,in“EarthCurrents,

andtheAuroraBorealisof4thFebruary,”JournaloftheSocietyofTelegraphEngineers1,no.1(1872):102–4.38.Ibid.,103.39.“EarthCurrents,andtheAuroraBorealisof4thFebruary.—No.2,”

JournaloftheSocietyofTelegraphEngineers1,no.2(1872):250–56.40.G.K.Winter,“OnEarthCurrents,andonTheirBearinguponthe

MeasurementoftheResistanceofTelegraphWiresinWhichTheyExist,”JournaloftheSocietyofTelegraphEngineers2,no.1(1873):89–102.41.Fournet,“ElectricalCountries,”134–36.42.Ibid.43.“AThunder-StormintheCity,”NewYorkTimes(February22,

1882):5.44.“InfluenceofAtmosphericElectricityandInducedEarthCurrentsin

Telegraphy,”JournaloftheTelegraph10,no.3(February1,1877):83–84.45.“TheAuroraBorealisandTelegraphCables,”ScientificAmerican

Supplement11,no.288(July9,1881):287.46.“InfluenceofAtmosphericElectricity,”JournaloftheTelegraph,83–

84;“TheTelegraphandtheWeather,”ScientificAmerican12,no.7(February11,1865):100;“SpecialReportonEarthCurrents,”JournaloftheSocietyofTelegraphEngineers2,no.1(1873):81–123.

5.INDUCTIVERADIOANDWHISTLINGCURRENTS1.“Thepoweroftheearthtocompletethecircuitfordynamic

electricityhasbeenknownforaverylongtime.”See“DiscoveryoftheEarthCircuit,”inJ.J.Fahie,AHistoryofElectricTelegraphytotheYear1837(London:E.&F.N.Spon,1884),343–48(343).2.CarlAugustvonSteinheil,quotedinibid.,348.3.HerbertN.Casson,TheHistoryoftheTelephone(Chicago:A.C.

McClurg&Co.,1910),120–22.Kahn, Douglas. Earth Sound Earth Signal : Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts, University of California Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1337907.Created from yale-ebooks on 2020-02-23 06:09:57.

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4.TestimonyofJohnJ.CartybeforethePublicServiceCommission,StateofNewYork,Albany,March15,1922,citedinFrederickLelandRhodes,BeginningsofTelephony(NewYork:Harper&Brothers,1929),90.Thecapacityofonelinetoaudiblydetectactivityinanotherfosteredaproposaltousethetelephoneasameanstoinvestigatedefectsinsubmarinetelegraphlines.“LaboratoryNotes,”Nature22,no.555(June17,1880):157.Thisdifficultywasnoticedveryearly:“Greatcareisnecessaryinerectinglinesfor[Bell’sarticulating]telephone,forifthewirecomesincloseproximityto,oriscarriedonthesamepolesas,otherlines,othercurrentsareinduced,producingconfusion.Partofthelinewearenowworkingoniscarriedonthepolesofthecitylines,andyoucanheardistinctlytheclickofthevariousMorseinstrumentsoperatingthem.”Secretary’sreportatthemeetingoftheFranklinInstitute,September19,1877,in“Bell’sArticulatingTelephone,”JournaloftheFranklinInstitute104,no.4(October1877):219–22.5.“BalanceonTelephoneLines”(translationfromL’Electricien,Paris),

Telephony6,no.1(July1903):54–55.6.W.H.Preece,“TheTelephone,”Nature16,no.410(September6,

1877):403–4.7.ElishaGray,ExperimentalResearchesinElectro-harmonic

TelegraphyandTelephony:1867–1878(NewYork:RussellBrothers,1878),62,reprintedinTheTelephone:AnHistoricalAnthology,editedbyGeorgeShiers(NewYork:ArnoPress,1977).8.“ExhibitionoftheTelephone,”JournaloftheTelegraph10,no.7

(April2,1877):102;“TelephoneMusicbyInduction,”JournaloftheTelegraph10,no.9(May1,1877):131.Seealso“TelephoneMusicbyInduction,”JournaloftheTelegraph10,no.8(April16,1877):115.9.“AlbanyTelegraphicNotes,”JournaloftheTelegraph10,no.19

(October1,1877):293–94.10.Ibid.,293.11.WilliamF.Channing,“EavesdroppingbyTelephone,”Journalofthe

Telegraph10,no.20(October16,1877):307.12.WilliamF.Channing,“OverheardbyTelephone:TheMusicin

Providence,”JournaloftheTelegraph10,no.24(December16,1877):376–77.Notonlywasmusicheardoverthelines,“stillmorestrikingly...Prof.E.W.Blake,ofBrownUniversity,talkedwithafriendforsomedistancesalongarailroad,usingthetwolinesofrailsforthetelephoniccircuit.Atthesametimeheheardtheoperatingonthetelegraphwires


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overhead,caughtbytherails,probablybyinduction”(376).13.C.E.McCluer,“TelephonicReminiscences,”Telephony15,no.1

(January1908):42–45.McCluerstatesthathemadehistelephonesinthefallof1876basedonanillustratedarticleofBell’sinventioninanissueofScientificAmerican,butthatarticledidnotappearuntilFebruary10,1877.14.Ibid.,42–43.15.JohnG.McKendrick,“LaboratoryNotes,”Nature18,no.452(June

27,1878):240–41.16.Casson,TheHistoryoftheTelephone,114.17.McCluer,“TelephonicReminiscences,”42–43.18.W.H.Preece,“RecentProgressinTelephony,”Nature26,no.673

(September21,1882):516–19.19.Channing,“OverheardbyTelephone:TheMusicinProvidence,”

376–77.“Thesoundproducedinthetelephonebylightning,evenwhensodistantthatonlytheflashcanbeseeninthehorizon,andnothundercanbeheard,isverycharacteristic,somethinglikethequenchingofadropofmeltedmetalinwater,orthesoundofadistantrocket.Themostremarkablecircumstanceisthatthissoundisheardjustbeforetheflashisseen—thatis,thereisprobablyadisturbance(inductive)oftheelectricityoverhead,duetothedistantconcentrationofelectricityprecedingthedisruptivedischarge”(377).20.“TheJavaEarthquakesandtheTelephone,”ScientificAmerican44,

no.19(November10,1883):294.21.One“Mr.Fay,”speakingatthe1883meetingoftheNational

TelephoneExchangeAssociation,quotedininJ.E.Kinsbury,TheTelephoneandTelephoneExchanges(London:Longmans,GreenandCo.,1915),418.22.AlexanderGrahamBell,“ResearchesinElectricTelephony,”Journal

oftheSocietyofTelegraphEngineers6,no.20(October31,1877):385–421.23.T.D.Lockwood,PracticalInformationforTelephonists(NewYork:

W.J.JohnstonCo.,1893),66.24.Ibid.,66–67.25.J.E.Taylor,“CharacteristicsofElectricEarth-CurrentDisturbances

andTheirOrigin,”communicatedbySirOliverLodge,F.R.S.(receivedKahn, Douglas. Earth Sound Earth Signal : Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts, University of California Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1337907.Created from yale-ebooks on 2020-02-23 06:09:57.

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December16,1902;readJanuary22,1903),ProceedingsoftheRoyalSocietyofLondon71,no.471(June1903):225–27.26.SeeRobertW.SchunkandAndrewF.Nagy,Ionospheres:Physics,

PlasmaPhysicsandChemistry(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2000),5.27.W.H.Preece,“LetterstotheEditor:EarthCurrents,”Nature49,

no.1276(April12,1894):554.Preecewasconfidentthattheworkerswereabletodistinguishsuchsoundsfrom“ordinaryinductivedisturbancesontelephonecircuits”(554).Preecechronicledauroralactivityontelegraphlinesmuchearlierbutwithoutthebenefitofthetelephone.W.H.Preece,“Earth-CurrentsandtheAuroraBorealisofFebruary4,1872,”Nature5,no.122(March7,1872):368.JohnPeirce,WilliamChanning’sassociateatBrownUniversity,listenedtothe“electricsounds”duringanauroraldisplaybutdidnotbothertodescribethem.Channing,“OverheardbyTelephone:TheMusicinProvidence,”376–77.SeealsoletterfromWilliamF.ChanningtoAlexanderGrahamBell,July16,1877,AlexanderGrahamBellFamilyPapers,LibraryofCongress,http://rs6.loc.gov(accessed2005).28.Preece,“LetterstotheEditor:EarthCurrents,”Nature,554.Two

ofthemostprominentwhistlerscientistsfromthesecondhalfofthetwentiethcenturysplitonwhetherornotwhistlerswereactuallyheard.L.R.O.StoreysaidthatPreece’s“descriptionistoovaguetomaketheidentification[ofwhistlers]certain,”whereasRobertHelliwellwasmoreconvinced:“Thedescriptionssuggestthattheobservershadheardtweeksandpossiblywhistlersanddawnchorus.”L.R.O.Storey,“AnInvestigationofWhistlingAtmospherics,”PhilosophicalTransactionsoftheRoyalSocietyofLondon:SeriesA;MathematicalandPhysicalSciences246,no.908(July9,1953):113–41(114);RobertHelliwell,WhistlersandRelatedIonosphericPhenomena(1965)(Mineola,NY:DoverPublications,2006),11.29.Areviewofthescientificliteratureuptothelate1950sisavailable

inthehistorychapterofHelliwell,WhistlersandRelatedIonosphericPhenomena,11–22.30.WalterBenjamin,“One-WayStreet,”inSelectedWritings,vol.1,

1913–1926(Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress,1996),486–87.TheEnglishtranslationofRauschas“ecstatictrance”maylendtoomuchofaDionysiantrance’n’danceinflectiontotheterm,whereasitisalsoassociatedwiththemoresedatetermoceanic.31.Ibid.,486.


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32.HeinrichBarkhausen,“TwoPhenomenaDiscoveredwiththeAidoftheNewAmplifier,”Phys.Zeits20(1919):401–3,quotedinHeinrichBarkhausen,“WhistlingTonesfromtheEarth,”ProceedingsoftheInstituteofRadioEngineers18,no.7(July1930):1155–59(1156).33.Ibid.,1156.34.Ibid.,1155.In1919,Barkhausenknewthesoundswere

geophysicallyrelated;however,anythingelsewas“inexplicable.”Bythetimeherevisitedthetopicin1930,therewasgreaterknowledgeofthereflectivepropertiesoftheionosphere,andhewasabletoconjecturethatwhistlerswererelatedtothepowerfulelectromagneticimpulseoflightning.Hisbiggestproblemremainedexplainingthedurationofthewhistler,since,iftheHeavisidelayerwasreflectingat100kilometersabovetheearth,andthesignalwastravelingatnearly300,000kilometerspersecond,thenawhistlerlastingonesecondwouldrequire1,000reflections,whichwasnotplausible.Ibid.,1157.35.OntheimportanceofD/F,seeDavidKahn,“InMemoriam:Georges-

JeanPainvin,”Cryptolgia6,no.2(1982):120–27.36.“TheintelligencepictureontheevacuationfromSinaiandthe

redeploymentoftroopswasalsoenhancedbyD/Ffixingandthefamiliaritygainedbyexperiencedoperatorswiththeelectronic‘signatures’leftbytheirGermanandOttomancounterparts.”YigalSheffy,BritishMilitaryIntelligenceinthePalestineCampaign,1914–1918(London:FrankCass,1998),225.Althoughitisunderstoodthatitwasnotuntilthemid-1920sthattheionospherewasidentifiedbyAppleton,Eckersleywroteareport“senttotheWarOfficein1916[that]probablyformedthefirstscientificdiscussionofthissubject.”J.A.Ratcliffe,“ThomasLydwellEckersley,1886–1959,”BiographicalMemoirsofFellowsoftheRoyalSociety5(February1960):70.37.T.L.Eckersley,“ANoteonMusicalAtmosphericDisturbances,”

PhilosophicalMagazine,andJournalofScience49,no.5(1925):1250.38.T.L.Eckersley,“ElectricalConstitutionoftheUpperAtmosphere,”

lettertotheeditor,Nature117,no.2954(June12,1926):821.39.W.H.EcclesandH.MorrisAirey,“NotesontheElectricalWaves

OccurringinNature,”ProceedingsoftheRoyalSocietyofLondon:SeriesA;ContainingPapersofaMathematicalandPhysicalCharacter85,no.576(April11,1911):145–50.40.CaptainH.J.Round,T.L.Eckersley,etal.,“ReportonMeasurements

MadeonSignalStrengthatGreatDistancesduring1922and1923byanKahn, Douglas. Earth Sound Earth Signal : Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts, University of California Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1337907.Created from yale-ebooks on 2020-02-23 06:09:57.

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ExpeditionSenttoAustralia,”IEEEJournal63,no.346(October1925):933–1001.41.E.T.BurtonandE.M.Boardman,“Audio-FrequencyAtmospherics,”

ProceedingsoftheInstituteofRadioEngineers21,no.10(October1933);1476–94.SeealsoEverettT.Burton,“SubmarineCableInterference,”Nature126,no.3167(July12,1930):55;EverettT.BurtonandEdwardM.Boardman,“EffectsofSolarEclipseonAudioFrequencyAtmospherics,”Nature313no.3299(January21,1933):81–82;andA.M.Curtis,“DiscussionofWhistlingTonesfromtheEarth,”ProceedingsoftheInstituteofRadioEngineers19,no.1(January,1931):145.42.BurtonandBoardman,“Audio-FrequencyAtmospherics,”1479.

BurtonandBoardman’spaperhadbeenreadbyJohnN.Dyer,anengineerwiththeColumbiaBroadcastingSystem,beforehedepartedontheSecondByrdAntarcticExpeditionin1934.Aschiefradioengineer,DyerworkedwithscientistsontheexpeditionandwasresponsibleforaweeklycommercialradiobroadcasttotheUnitedStates,sponsoredbytheGeneralFoodsCorporation.CBSsuppliedhimwithrecording-cuttinglathesandaluminumrecordingdiskstospiceuptheweeklybroadcastswithpenguins,dogs,andothersoundsofthelocalenvironment.Onhisowntimeheinvestigatedandrecordedlong-distanceradioechoes,theauroras,theradiosignaturesofmeteors,atmospherics,andwhistlersusinga1.6-kilometerwireasanantenna,aswellaswhathecalledaclassof“whish,whichlastforasecondorlonger—soundlikearopewhirledthroughtheair,usuallyveryloud—thelouderonesfollowedbyawhistleofdecreasingfrequencywhichsoundslikeanapproachingartilleryshell.”Unfortunately,uponhisreturnheneverpublishedhisfindings,primarilybecausetheywereirrelevanttohisworkatCBS.SeeC.StewartGillmor,“TheEarlyHistoryofUpperAtmosphericPhysicsResearchinAntarctica,”inUpperAtmosphereResearchinAntarctica,editedbyL.J.LanzerottiandC.G.Park(AmericanGeophysicalUnion)(Baltimore:WaverlyPress,1978),236–62(paraphraseofDyerisonpp.246–51;quotationisonp.248).43.W.H.Eccles,TheElectrician(London)69(1912):75,citedinL.W.

Austin,“ThePresentStatusofRadioAtmosphericDisturbances,”ProceedingsoftheInstituteforRadioEngineers14,no.1(February1926):133–38.44.Helliwell,WhistlersandRelatedIonosphericPhenomena,83.

Interestingly,the1951papercitedasbeingmostresponsibleforthisshiftfromauditorytovisualthinkingwaswrittenbyRalphK.Potter,whoatthetimewasanardentchampionof“audiovisualmusic”andabstractfilmandofproviding“scientifictoolsforthearts.”SeeRalphK.Potter,“Analysisof


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Audio-FrequencyAtmospherics,”ProceedingsoftheInstituteofRadioEngineers39,no.9(September1951):1067–69.InWhistlersandRelatedIonosphericPhenomena,Helliwellcommentedontheturnofevents:“Asissooftenthecaseinscientificresearch,advancesinonefieldarefrequentlymadeasaresultoftechniquesanddevicesdevelopedinanother.Potter’spaperdescribedtheapplicationofa‘sound’spectrograph,developedforstudiesofspeechandnoise,tothevisualportrayalofwhistlers”(16).LikeBurtonandBoardman,PotterwasemployedbyBellLaboratoriesandhadalong-standinginterestinatmospherics;seehis“High-FrequencyAtmosphericNoise,”ProceedingsoftheInstituteofRadioEngineers19,no.10(October1931):1731–65.Inthisway,hisworkwascloselyrelatedtothatotherBellLabsresearcher,KarlJansky,whousedD/Ftoidentifyapersistenthigh-frequencynoiseintheatmospherethatturnedouttobeextraterrestrial,emanatingfromthecenterofthegalaxy.Potterwasalsoactiveintop-secretciphonyandtheSigsalysystem,andheheldpatentsforsecrettelephony.Heisprimarilyrememberedforhisworkon“visiblespeech”andsoundspectrography,andheusedBurtonandBoardman’srecordingsin“AnalysisofAudio-FrequencyAtmospherics.”ForPotter’sinvolvementinthearts,seehis“AudiovisualMusic,”HollywoodQuarterly3,no.1(Autumn1947),66–78;and“NewScientificToolsfortheArts,”JournalofAestheticsandArtCriticism10,no.2(December,1951):126–34.45.Helliwell,WhistlersandRelatedIonosphericPhenomena,206.46.Ibid.,135–37.47.Benjamin,“One-WayStreet,”486.

6.ALVINLUCIER:BRAINWAVESEpigraph:AlvinLucier,interviewwithEvGrimes,Middletown,CT,June6,1986,p.54,AmericanMusicSeries,OralHistoryofAmericanMusic,YaleUniversityLibrary,NewHaven,CT.1.AlvinLucier,Reflections:Interviews,Scores,Writings(Cologne:

EditionMusikTexte,1995),28.ForanaccountofAmericanexperimentalmusicinWestGermany,seeAmyC.Beal,NewMusic,NewAllies:AmericanExperimentalMusicinWestGermanyfromtheZeroHourtoReunification(Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,2006).2.AlvinLucier,“OstravaDays2001—TranscriptofAlvinLucier

Seminar,”seminarorganizedbyPetrKotik,www.ocnmh.cz/days2001_transkript_lucier_htm(accessedJuly2008).


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http://www.ocnmh.cz/days2001_transkript_lucier_htm

3.Ibid.4.Lucier,Reflections,300.FollowingLucier’sMusicforSoloPerformer

thereweremanyworksbyothersusingbrainwaves,biofeedback,andotherinternalbody-monitoring(interoceptive)techniques.Lucier’sworkwassimilartoJamesTenney’sMetabolicMusic(1965;itwasneverperformed),whichwascomposedabouttenweeksafterLucier’sMusicforSoloPerformer:“Itwasoneofthoseindependentcoincidences.Ihadn’theardaboutAlvin’spieceuntilafterIdidmyown.”DouglasKahn,“InterviewwithJamesTenney:Toronto,February1999,”LeonardoElectronicAlmanac8,no.11(March2001):n.p.BrainwaveswerealsousedinJohnCage’sVariationsVIIandAlexHay’sGrassFieldsat9Evenings:TheatreandEngineering(October1966).ThecyberneticfoundationofMusicforSoloPerformerwasevidentalsoinNamJunePaik’sdesireforaDIRECT-CONTACT-ART:

Medicalelectronicsandartisstillwidelyapart,butthesetwofieldscanalsochangeeachother’sfruits,e.g.,varioussignalscanbefedtomanypartsofhead,brain,andbodies,aimingtoestablishcompletelynewgenreofDIRECT-CONTACT-ART,andthisartisticexperimentcanbring some scientific product for this young science in electro-anesthesia, electro-visual tranquilizer, electronic hallucinationthrough the film for closed eyes, electro-sleep and other electro-therapy.Electro-magneticvibrationoftheheadmightleadthewaytoelectroniczen.

Paik’sstatementwaswrittenin1966;seeNamJunePaik:Videa’n’Videology,1959–1973,editedbyJudsonRosebush(Syracuse,NY:EversonMuseumofArt,1974),n.p.Paikmentionsthatthe“essaywaswritteninwinterandcopiesweresenttoMaxMathews,MikeNoll,JamesTenneyandLejarenHiller,Jr.ItwasprintedinFylkingenBulletin(Stockholm)in1967.”WorksclosertoacounterculturalsensibilityincludeEnvironeticSynthesisbyPeterCrownandRichardLowenberg,inRadicalSoftware2,no.1(1972):44;andworksinDavidRosenboom,ed.,BiofeedbackandtheArts:ResultsofEarlyExperiments(Vancouver,BC:AestheticResearchCentreofCanada,1976);andtheyreachedazenithonthenationallytelevisedMikeDouglasShowin1972,whenthecomposerDavidRosenboomappearedwithKurtMunkacsi,onsynthesizer,withMikeDouglas,JohnLennon,andYokoOnointheproductionofbrainwavemusic.ChuckBerrywasalsopresentbutdidnotapplytheelectrodes.OnManfredEaton’s“biomusic,”seeBrandenJoseph,“Biomusic,”GreyRoom,


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no.45(Fall2011):128–50.NotableexamplesduringtheperiodoutsidetheUnitedStatesincludePierreHenry’sMiseenMusiqueduCorticalartdeRogerLafosse(1971)andErkkiKurenniemi’sElec-troencephalophone(1973).5.AndrewPickeringwriteseloquentlyabouthowcyberneticsasa

whole“stagesforusanonmodernontologyinwhichpeopleandthingsarenotsodifferentafterall.”AndrewPickering,TheCyberneticBrain:SketchesforAnotherFuture(Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,2011),18.HisnotionofontologicalperformanceisalsoapplicabletoMusicforSoloPerformer,oncedistancefromacounterculturalmotivehasbeengranted.6.Feedbackinacyberneticsenseshouldnotbeconfusedwithaudio

feedback.TherewasnoaudiofeedbackinLucier’sMusicforSoloPerformer;infact,measuresweretakentopreventitfromoccurring.AudiofeedbackwasusedinAmericanexperimentalismbyDickHigginsinLoudSymphony(1958),byDavidTudorinhis1961realizationofJohnCage’sVariationsII,andmostfamouslybyJimiHendrix.LuciertraceshisownengagementwithaudiofeedbackproperbacktoBirdandPersonDyning(1975),acompositioninwhichIplayedarolebysendingLucieragift,purchasedfromadiscountdepartmentstore,ofanelectronicChristmastreeornamentthatemittedabirdsound.SeeAlvinLucier,“MyAffairswithFeedback,”Resonance(apublicationoftheLondonMusicians’Collective)9,no.2(2002):24–25.7.Lucier,“OstravaDays2001.”8.JohnCage,ConversingwithCage,editedbyRichardKostelanetz

(NewYork:LimelightEditions,1988),69–70.OnCage’s0′00″,seeWilliamFetterman,JohnCage’sTheatrePieces:NotationsandPerformances(Amsterdam:HarwoodAcademicPublishers,1996),84–90;andJamesPritchett,TheMusicofJohnCage(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1993).SeealsoAlvinLucier,“NotesintheMargins:CollaborationswithJohnCage,”inReflections,498–510.9.CalvinTomkins,TheBrideandtheBachelors:FiveMastersofthe

Avant-Garde(NewYork:Penguin,1976),139.10.JohnCage,“TheFutureofMusic:Credo”(1937),inSilence

(Hanover,NH:WesleyanUniversityPress,1961),6.11.ForfurtherdiscussionofJohnCageandtheanechoicchamber,see

my“LetMeHearMyBodyTalk,MyBodyTalk,”inRe:Live—NewDirectionsinMediaArtHistories,editedbySeanCubittandPaulThomas


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(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,2013).12.Thepursuitof“smallsounds”waspartofalargerhistoryofsensing

weaksignalsthatfirstjumpedoffthepagewhennerveimpulsesinadissectedfrog’slegweredetectedbyagalvanometerandthenusedasagalvanometeritself.Otherearlygalvanometers,aswehaveseen,includedthetongueandtelephonebut,asNorbertWienerpointedout,theenergyinthenerveofafrogwas“excessivelyminute.”NorbertWiener,Cybernetics:OrControlandCommunicationintheAnimalandtheMachine(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,1961),182.Smallsoundsandweaksignalswerecommontoboth0′00″andMusicforSoloPerformer,sincesignalsonthescalpregisteratfiftymillionthsofavolt.Indeed,thehistoricalevolutionofnoisecouldbewritteninpartasagrowingculturalandenergeticstrengthofweaksignals.13.Lucier,“OstravaDays2001.”14.RobertM.Voss,“TheBrandeisUniversityElectronicMusicStudio,”

JournaloftheAudioEngineeringSociety13,no.1(January1965):65–68.15.AlvinLucier,“NotesintheMargins,”inReflections,510.Ahotfoot

isanadolescentprankwhereamatchisinsertedinaperson’sshoeandlit.16.AlvinLucier,“StatementOn:MusicforSoloPerformer,”in

Rosenboom,BiofeedbackandtheArts,60–61.17.RobertAshley,“LandscapewithAlvinLucier,”MusicwithRootsin

theAether:InterviewswithandEssaysaboutSevenAmericanComposers,ed.GiselaGronemeyerandReinhardOehlschlägel(Cologne:EditionMusikTexte,2000),83.18.Lucier,“StatementOn:MusicforSoloPerformer,”61.19.PaulineOliveros,correspondencewiththeauthor,July2009.20.Lucier,“OstravaDays2001.”21.TonyGnazzo,telephoneinterviewwiththeauthor,August26,2008.

7.EDMONDDEWANANDCYBERNETICHI-FI1.EdmondDewan,telephoneinterviewswiththeauthor,Juneand

August2008,andemailcorrespondencewithBrianDewanduringthesameperiod.2.QuotedinDavidA.Mindell,BetweenHumanandMachine

(Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress,2002),287.


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3.EdmondDewan,“‘OtherMinds’:AnApplicationofRecentEpistemologicalIdeastotheDefinitionofConsciousness,”PhilosophyofScience24,no.1(January1957):70–76(71).DewancitedW.GreyWalter’spopulartext,TheLivingBrain(NewYork:Norton,1953),andWalter’scontributiontotheMacyconferenceoncybernetics,“StudiesonActivityoftheBrain,”Cybernetics:CircularCausalandFeedbackMechanismsinBiologicalandSocialSystems,TransactionsoftheTenthConference,April22–24,1953,editedbyHeinzvonFoerster,sponsoredbytheJosiahMacyJr.Foundation(NewYork:Corlies,Macy&Company,1955),19–31.4.Dewan,“‘OtherMinds,’”74.5.Ibid.,75.6.Regardinghisdissertation,seeEdmondM.Dewan,“Generalizations

oftheSahaEquation,”ThePhysicsofFluids4,no.6(June,1961):759–63;andEdmondM.Dewan,“UnusualPropagationofSatelliteSignals,”ProceedingsoftheIRE(November1959):2020.Hislaterworkincludedresearchongravitywavesandotheratmosphericturbulences.OneclassifieddocumenthesawbeforeitwasreleasedshowedphotographsofaspyballoonarraythathisfriendCharlieMoorehadworkedon.TheballoonwouldbecomefamousforbeingmistakenforaUFOthatcrashednearRoswell,NewMexico,whenthepatternofthefabricthatMooreboughtfromastorefrontvendorwasconfusedwithextraterrestrialwriting.7.Wienerhimselfwasinterestedinbrainwavessinceatleast1948with

thepublicationofCybernetics.HeacknowledgedpersonalcommunicationwithGreyWalter,whose“CentralEffectsofRhythmicSensoryStimulation”appearedthefollowingyearinElectroencephalogyandClinicalNeurophysiology1(1949):57–86.The1961editionofWiener’sbookincludedasitslastchapter“BrainWavesandSelf-OrganizingSystems”(181–204),aninvestigationintotheprocessofhow“highlyspecificfrequenciesareformedinbrainwaves.”Cybernetics:OrControlandCommunicationintheAnimalandtheMachine(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,1961),xv.8.EdmondM.Dewan,“OccipitalAlphaRhythmEyePositionandLens

Accommodation,”Nature214(June3,1967):975–77.SeealsoShelMichaels,“Letters,”ScienceNews156,no.17(October23,1999):259.“Asubjectremainedmotionlesswhilevoltagesfromelectrodesplacedonthescalpwereamplifiedandfiltered,thensenttoacomputer.Thesubjectattemptedtocontrolhisalphawaveswhilelisteningtocomputerfeedback


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ofbothalpha-wavecontentandthecomputer’sinterpretationinMorsecode.Thefirstcommunicationtransmittedbythismethod,directfrombraintocomputer,wasthewordcybernetics.Iknowabouttheexperimentfirsthand,asIwastheprogrammerwhodevelopedtheprogram”(259).9.HenriPoincaré,ScienceandMethod(1908),translatedbyFrancis

Maitland(London:T.Nelson,1914),22.AlsoseeEdmondM.Dewan’sreport,NonlinearOscillationandNeuroelectricPhenomena,Part1(June1963),Accessionno.AD0411851,DefenseTechnicalInformationCenter(DTIC);andhisNonlinearOscillationandElectroencephalography(August1963),Accessionno.AD0421980,DTIC.10.SeepapersfromtheUSAirForceSchoolofAviationMedicine:

CharlesA.BerryandHerbertK.Eastwood,“HelicopterProblems:Noise,CockpitContaminationandDisorientation,”AerospaceMedicine31,no.3(March1960):179–90,and“DisorientationinHelicopterPilots,”inthesameissue,191–99;L.C.Johnson,“FlickerasaHelicopterPilotProblem,”AerospaceMedicine34,no.3(April1963):306–10;andtheearlierreport,C.W.Watson,DetectionofLightEvokedCerebralElectricalAbnormalitiesamongHelicopterFlightTrainees,ProgressReportofResearchandDevelopmentDivision,OfficeofSurgeonGeneral,DepartmentofArmyContractno.DA49–007,MD-734(September1959).11.ForNorbertWieneronvisualandelectricalflicker,seehis

Cybernetics,198–99.Onflickerinthearts,seeJohnGeiger,ChapelofExtremeExperience:AShortHistoryofStroboscopicLightandtheDreamMachine(Brooklyn,NY:SoftSkullPress,2003).AndonTonyConrad’s1966filmTheFlicker,seechapter6ofBrandenW.Joseph,BeyondtheDreamSyndicate:TonyConradandtheArtsafterCage(Brooklyn,NY:ZoneBooks,2008).12.TimothyLeland,“BrainwaveSpellsOutMorseCodeMessage,”

BostonGlobe(January17,1965):3.13.WilliamMacLaurin,“TalkviaBrainWaves,”ScienceNewsLetter

86,no.18(October31,1964):275.14.HowardSimons,“Man’sBrainWavesCan‘Talk,’Overcoming

SpeechBarriers,”WashingtonPost(October21,1964):A1.15.SeeJamesWierzbicki,LouisandBebeBarron’s“Forbidden

Planet”:AFilmScoreGuide(Lanham,MD:ScarecrowPress,2005),32–37.Caughtonanislandbetweentheavant-gardeandcommerce,someelectronicmusiccomposersfeltthattheBarrons’effortsstigmatizedelectronicmusicforyearstocomeasacaricatureof“outerspace”sounds,


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whileothersarguedthatitwasaperfectlycompetentworkthatdevelopedawideraudiencefortheirownworkandthegenreasawhole.16.MartinCaidin,TheGodMachine(NewYork:Dutton,1968).

Caidin’sbestknownnovelwasCyborg,theinspirationforthe1970stelevisionseries,TheSixMillionDollarMan.17.USPatent6529773.18.AlvinLucier,interviewwithEvGrimes,Middletown,CT,June6,

1986,p.54,AmericanMusicSeries,OralHistoryofAmericanMusic,YaleUniversityLibrary,NewHaven,CT(OHAM).19.Ibid.,117.TheideaofinaudiblemusiccanbefoundinMichel

Magne’sSymphonieHumaine(1955),thefirstpartofwhichisbelowaudibilityandthentransposedforthebenefitoftheaudience.Thetechnologicalsuggestionoftranspositionstoandfromaudibilityandinaudibilitywaseverywhereinevidencewiththedistributionofthetaperecorderanditsabilitytoslowdownandspeeduprecordedevents,whetheranearthquakeinseismologicalresearchoramusicaltrackinthemultitrackingofLesPaul.Subaudiblefrequencieswerecommonlyusedinelectronicmusicduringthe1960stocreateacausalephemeralityofovertoneswithnoapparentfundamental.20.AlvinLucier,“OstravaDays2001—TranscriptofAlvinLucier

Seminar,”seminarorganizedbyPetrKotik,www.ocnmh.cz/days2001_transkript_lucier_htm(accessedJuly2008).21.GordonMumma,“AlvinLucier’sMusicforSoloPerformer1965,”

Source:MusicoftheAvant-Garde1,no.2(July1967):68–69,reprintedinSource:MusicoftheAvant-Garde,1966–1973,editedbyLarryAustinandDouglasKahn(Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,2011),80.22.Ibid.23.GordonMumma,correspondencewiththeauthor,August18,2008.

MummacomparedLucier’suseofphysicallyresonatingsystemstosubsequentcompositionsbyhimself(Hornpipe)andDavidTudor(Rainforest).24.Mumma,“AlvinLucier’sMusicforSoloPerformer1965,”81.

MummabuiltspecializedcomponentsunderthebrandCybersonicsforLucier’sperformancesofMusicforSoloPerformerandforhisownperformancesofthecomposition.Cybersonicswasasmallandshort-livedbusinessofMummaandWilliamRibbens.LuciermentionsusingCybersonicsgearforthefirsttimeattheFylkingenCongressof


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TechnologyandArtinStockholm,September21,1966.TheCybersonicscomponentswerelighterandmoreportablethantheTektronixgeargiventohimbyDewan.SeeMalcolmTroup,ed.,Review1972(London:GuildhallSchoolofMusicandDrama,1972),23–24.25.RobertAshley,“LandscapewithAlvinLucier,”inMusicwithRoots

intheAether:InterviewswithandEssaysAboutSevenAmericanComposers,editedbyGiselaGronemeyerandReinhardOehlschlägel(Cologne:EditionMusikTexte,2000),80.26.AlvinLucier,Reflections:Interviews,Scores,Writings(Cologne:

EditionMusikTexte,1995),50.27.Ibid.,32.28.Ibid.,48.29.Lucier,interviewwithEvGrimes,June6,1986,p.59,OHAM.30.AlvinLucier,quotedinJoelChadabe,ElectricSound:ThePastand

PromiseofElectronicMusic(UpperSaddleRiver,NJ:PrenticeHall,1997),97.31.Lucier,Reflections,96:“thespaceactsasafilter.”32.GordonMumma,correspondencewiththeauthor,August18,2008.33.Inhisessay“MusicforSoloPerformer,”reprintedinReview1972

fromtheGuildhallSchoolofMusicandDrama,Lucierwasmorespecific:“Inchoosingloudspeakersforaperformanceofthisworkonlythosewithgoodbassresponseareusableandcone-typespeakersarepreferabletohorn-typespeakersforpurposeofresonatingthepercussioninstruments.Thereasonissimplythattheairpressurefromtheconeexcursionswillcausethegrillclothtobumpinreactiontotheburstsofalpha.Thisbumpingeffectisanefficientmeansforresonatingtheseinstruments.ThecomposerhasfoundthattheKLHModel4loudspeakerisfineforthispurpose”(23–24).34.IamgratefultoEricD.Barryforhisguidanceonthehi-fiindustry

andloudspeakerdesignintheBostonareaduringthe1950sand1960s.SeehisessayonaudiophilicspectacleandEmoryCook,“High-FidelitySoundasSpectacleandSublime,1950–1961,”inSoundintheAgeofMechanicalReproduction,editedbyDavidSuismanandSusanStrasser(Philadelphia:UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,2010),115–38.35.AmarBose,“OntheDesign,Measurement,andEvaluationof

Loudspeakers,”AudioEngineeringSociety,Preprintno.622(H-3)(NewYork:AudioEngineering,1968),5.SeealsoAmarG.Bose,“Relative


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EffectsofNormal-ModeStructureofLoudspeakersandRoomsonReproductionofSound,”JournaloftheAcousticalSocietyofAmerica36,no.10(October1964):2011.Likemuchscienceatthetime,thisresearchwasconductedundercontractbytheUSArmy,USNavy,andUSAirForce,amongothersourcesoffunding.36.Bose,“OntheDesign,Measurement,andEvaluationof

Loudspeakers,”4,presentedatthe35thConventionoftheAudioEngineeringSociety,October21–24,1968.Hesettheprobleminthisway:“Itwouldperhapsbepossibletoachieveaconsensusontheobjectiveofprovidingthehomelistenerwiththesameauditorysensationthathewouldreceiveattheliveperformance.Ifwedidnotpausetoconsidersomepracticalconstraintswewouldimmediatelymoveinthedirectionofalargernumberofchannelswithanevenlargernumberofspeakersystemsandtimedelays,allinstalledinananechoicenvironment.Veryeffectiveexperimentsofthistypehavebeenconductedforresearchpurposes.AnexcellentdemonstrationofsuchasystemisprovidedbytheLaboratoriesofPhilipsGloielampenfabriekeninEindhovenNetherlands.However,ifweintroducethepracticalconstraintsthatlimitustotwochannelsandtoroomsthesizeofthosefoundinaveragehomes,itissafetosaythatsoundreproductionisatbestacompromisewithnumerousshortcomings”(2).37.EdmondDewan,telephoneinterviewswiththeauthor,JuneandJuly

2008.38.AmarG.Bose,correspondencewiththeauthor,August22and

September17,2009.BosegavethesamedemonstrationseveraltimesthroughouttheBostonarea,andpeoplekeytotheCambridgehigh-endaudiocommunityrememberittothisday.Theowner’smanualfortheKLH6loudspeakersystemthatLucierusedinMusicforSoloPerformeroffersitsownaccommodationtoactualrooms,asthemanualreads,“Toaccountfordifferentroomcharacteristicsanddifferentpersonaltastes,thehigh-frequencyresponseoftheModelSixmaybeadjustedbymeansofthethree-positionswitchonthebackofthecabinet.”39.Lucier,“OstravaDays2001.”40.Seemy“AlvinLucier:IAmSittinginaRoom,Immersedand

Propagated,”OASEArchitecturalJournal,no.78(2009):24–37.41.“InterviewwithWilliamDuckworth”(1981)inLucier,Reflections,

322.LucierlaterperformedMusicforSoloPerformerattheKitcheninNewYorkwhilealsosendinghisbrainwavesoveratelephonelinetoanothersetofinstrumentsataperformancespaceinLosAngeles.AlvinLucier,interviewedbyMichaelParsons,“BeatsThatCanPushSugar,”


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LondonMusiciansCollective(May27,1995),www.l-m-c.org.uk/texts/lucier.html(accessedJuly11,2003).

8.ALVINLUCIER:WHISTLERSEpigraph: “Interview with William Duckworth” (1981), in Alvin Lucier,Reflections: Interviews, Scores, Writings (Cologne: Edition MusikTexte,1995),322.1.ThereissomeconfusionaboutthedatingofWhistlers.Ihavechosen

toprioritizeLucier’suseofwhistlersinperformanceratherthantryingtolocateaspecifictimeofnaming.Aswillbenotedlater,inalettertoDavidTudorinpreparationforVariationsVII,JohnCagementionedLucier’suseofsoundsof“outerspace,”andsotheyearcanbestatedas1966.DavidVaughan,thearchivistattheMerceCunninghamDanceCompany,broughttomyattentionanoteinthearchivesthatsaysthat“LucierperformedfortwoStudioEventson5and6April1974:thetitleofthemusicwasWhistlers(1966–1974).”DavidVaughn,correspondencewiththeauthor,March17,2008.Theworkappearstohavesurviveduntilatleast1975,“asaccompanimenttonumerousperformancesinpublicspacesbytheViolaFarberDanceCompany,mostnotablytheSneakersseries,1975,throughoutthefiveboroughsofNewYorkCity.”Linernotes,AlvinLucier,Sferics;MusicforSoloPerformer,LovelyMusicCD5013,2010.2.AirForceCambridgeResearchLabssponsoredtheConferenceon

AtmosphericElectricity,heldatWentworth-by-the-Sea,Portsmouth,NH,May19–21,1954,proceedingseditedbyRobertE.HolzerandWaldoE.Smith(HanscomAirForceBase:AirForceCambridgeResearchLabs,1955).JosefFuchs’s“ReportonSomeObservationsonAtmosphericElectricity”firstappearedintheseproceedings.SeealsoC.B.KalakowskyandE.A.Lewis,VLFSfericsofVeryLargeVirtualSourceStrength,Report0479646,AirForceCambridgeResearchLabs,L.G.HanscomField,MA(September1966),29.3.“EarthquakesandCosmicMusicforSaleonDisks,”NewYorkTimes

(April4,1955):31,reprintedinMeyerBerger,MeyerBerger’sNewYork(NewYork:RandomHouse,1960),136–37.4.L.R.O.Storey,“AnInvestigationofWhistlingAtmospherics,”

PhilosophicalTransactionsoftheRoyalSocietyofLondon;SeriesA,MathematicalandPhysicalSciences246,no.908(July9,1953):113–41.WhistlerresearchbecamewidespreadaftertheimportantmeetingoftheInternationalUnionofRadioScience(URSI)inAustraliain1952.


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5.L.R.O.Storey,“Whistlers,”ScientificAmerican194,no.1(January1956):34–37(34).6.DanielLang,“Profiles:EarDriven1,”NewYorker(March3,1956):

39–60.Seealso“Profiles:EarDriven2”(March10,1956):45–69,anindispensableprofileofEmoryCook.7.CorrespondencebetweenGraingerMorgan,sonofMillettMorgan,

andtheauthor,May11,2008.8.TranscribedfromOutofThisWorld,CookLaboratories5012,1953,

LP.9.Linernotes,Ionosphere,CookLaboratories5013,1955,LP.“The

recordisintendedforplayingbinaurally,simultaneouslywithtwopickupsonthesameorseparatearms”ontheturntable.Thechannelswereregisteredafterthefactthroughthepresumedconjunctionof“bonks.”Foranearlysurveyoftheliterature,seeEugeneM.Wescott,“MagnetoconjugatePhenomena,”SpaceScienceReviews,no.5(1966):507–61.10.AlvinLucier,conversationwiththeauthor,Middletown,CT,

February2003.SpeculationthatwhistlersconnectwithdeepspacesignalscanbefoundinthethelastparagraphofMillettMorgan’slinernotestotheOutoftheThisWorldLP:“Itisnotevennecessarilycertainthatallofthesignalsrecordedhereoriginatedon‘earth’orweretransducedhereintoaudio/radiosignalsfromtheimpingementofparticleenergyfromtheoutside.Amidtheswishesandchorustheremayalsoberadiosoundsofacertainmodefromouterspace,tangentiallytrappedbyfreeelectronsoronamagneticline,thenguidedtousthroughtheionosphericmask.”11.Linernotes,Lucier,Sferics;MusicforSoloPerformer.12.RichardLerman,correspondencewiththeauthor,August26,2008

(onbandpassfilters),andAugust26,2008,andAugust7,2009(onWinterfest).Inonearticle,GordonMummamakesitappearasthoughlivereceptionofVLFtookplace:“In1966AlvinLuciercomposedWhistlers,inwhich,withspecialVLFradios,thesoundsofelectromagneticdisturbanceswerereceivedfromtheionosphereandelectronicallyprocessedbyanensembleofliveperformers.”GordonMumma,“Live-ElectronicMusic,”inTheDevelopmentandPracticeofElectronicMusic,editedbyJonH.AppletonandRonaldC.Perera(EnglewoodCliffs,NJ:Prentice-Hall,1975),286–335.13.TonyGnazzo,correspondenceandtelephoneinterviewwiththe

author,August2008.Kahn, Douglas. Earth Sound Earth Signal : Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts, University of California Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1337907.Created from yale-ebooks on 2020-02-23 06:09:57.

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14.WillJohnson,“FirstFestivalofLive-ElectronicMusic1967,”Source:MusicoftheAvantGarde,no.3,reprintedinSource:MusicoftheAvant-Garde,1966–1973,editedbyLarryAustinandDouglasKahn(Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,2011),117.15.Ibid.NeitherStanLunettanorLarryAustin,editorsofSourceat

thetime,rememberwritingthenote;norcantheythinkofwhomamongtheeditorialstaffwouldhavepossessedthistypeofknowledge.16.Radioreflectionsoffmissilevaportrailswere,ofcourse,relevantto

monitoringmissiletestsandtrackingmissiles,whilethelargerfieldofscatteringwasrelevanttoradardetectionandevasion(stealth).RadioamateurswereactiveinmonitoringsignalsandreflectionsoffsatellitesstartingwithSputnik,asmanyarticlesinQSTreveal,especiallyvolumes41to43,andwereenlistedtoregistertheeffectsofnucleartestsconductedattheNevadaTestSite.See“RadioPropagationandAtomicBombTests:AmateurObservationsWanted,”QST41,no.1,10.RadioamateurswerealsoenlistedinOperationSmoke-Pufftomonitor“artificialionospheres”producedbyhigh-altituderocketreleaseofchemicalsfromlaunchesatAlamogordo,NewMexico.SeeO.G.VillardJr.,“OperationSmoke-Puff,”QST1,no.5(March1957):11–15.Coincidentally,CalvinR.GrafsubmittedalettertoQSTreportingthathehadheardaboutaquartersecond“meteorping”signalreflectedfromSputnikII.QST42,no.3(March1958):47.GrafwrotetheamateurbookthatLucierusedtodesigntheVLFantennaforhiscompositionSferics(1981).17.Whistlerresearchdevelopedrapidlyduringthe1950samidthe

scientificandmilitaryexigenciesofVLFresearchgenerallyarisingfromnucleartestingbytheUnitedStates,SovietUnion,andtheUnitedKingdomandforsubmarinecommunications.Researchgrewduringthe1950stowardtheInternationalGeophysicalYear(IGY),ayearandahalfactually,knownforitsmostfamousgeophysical-geopoliticaloffspring:theSputnikandExplorersatellites.TheUSIGYresponsetoSputnik—Explorer1—conductedmagnetosphericresearchundertheaegisofJamesVanAllen,whoseresearcheshadbenefitedfromL.R.O.Storey’sanalysesofwhistleractivityinthemagnetosphere.SeeJamesVanAllen,OriginsofMagnetosphericPhysics(IowaCity:UniversityofIowaPress,2004),2;andC.StewartGillmorandJohnR.Spreiter,eds.,DiscoveryoftheMagnetosphere(Washington,DC:AmericanGeophysicalUnion,1997).Continuedgeopoliticalmilitarymotivesfrom1950through2000centeredonsubmarines:“ThisneedfornavigationandcommunicationswithsubmarinesandtheneedforreliableglobalmilitarycommunicationswastheindirectdrivingforcebehindmostofthedevelopmentsinVLFandELF


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radiowavepropagationtheoryandexperimentoverthelast50years.”R.Barretal.,“ELFandVLFRadioWaves,”JournalofAtmosphericandSolar-TerrestrialPhysics62,no.2(November2000):1689–1718(1689).18.RobertA.Helliwell,WhistlersandRelatedIonosphericPhenomena

(1965)(Mineola,NY:DoverPublications,2006).Thesection“Explosion-ExcitedWhistlers”isonpages135–37.ItshouldbenotedthatHelliwellwasintegrallyinvolvedintrackingthewhistleractivityproducedbyoneofthemostremarkableofnucleartests,StarfishPrime(July9,1962).Theyieldwas1,400kilotons,anddetonationoccurredatanaltitudeof400kilometersoverJohnstonIsland,creatinganelectromagneticpulsethatshutdownstreetlightsandelectronicsinHawaii1,400kilometerstotheeast.Itwasknownastherainbowbombfortheartificialauroraitproduced.HelliwellreportedontheparticularlyintensewhistlerrecordedovertheequatoratWellington,NewZealand.ManyofEdmondDewan’scolleaguesfromtheAirForceCambridgeResearchLabswereinvolvedindifferentaspectsofmonitoringtheblast,aswereresearchersfromSandiaNationalLaboratories.SeeRobertHelliwellandD.L.Carpenter,“WhistlersExcitedbyNuclearExplosions,”JournalofGeophysicalResearch68,no.15(1963):4409–20.Forthepoliticalfalloutontelecommunicationsofupperatmospheretesting,seeJamesSchwoch,GlobalMedia:NewMediaandtheColdWar:1946–1969(Urbana:UniversityofIllinoisPress,2009),129–35.CalvinGrafreportedonchangesinsfericsthatoccurredwithStarfishPrime.See“High-AltitudeExplosionEffectson2400–2500c/sSferics,”ProceedingsoftheIEEE,53,no.5(May1965):528.19.PaulineOliveros,“AlvinLucier,”SoftwareforPeople:Collected

Writings,1963–80(Baltimore:SmithPublications,1984),192.20.PaulineOliveros,interviewwiththeauthor,Berkeley,April22,

2006.21.AlvinLucier,“TheFutureofOurMusic,”SearchEventIV,

UniversityofCaliforniaatSanDiego,March3,2002,www.zsearch.org/text/lucier2.html(accessedJuly11,2003).22.Oliveros,interviewwiththeauthor,April22,2006.23.PaulineOliveros,“AlvinLucier,”inReflections:Interviews,Scores,

Writings,byAlvinLucier(Cologne:EditionMusikTexte,1995),192.24.Oliveros,interviewwiththeauthor,April22,2006.25.Lucier,“TheFutureofOurMusic.”


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26.CalvinR.Graf,ListentoRadioEnergy,Light,andSound(Indianapolis:HowardW.Sams&Co.,1978),3.27.AlvinLucier,“Sferics:DiaryNotes(1981),”inReflections,474–82.28.Ibid.,478.29.Ibid,480.30.AlvinLucierandArthurMargolin,“ConversationwithAlvinLucier,”

PerspectivesofNewMusic20,nos.1–2(Autumn1981–Summer1982):50–58(56).Inthisinterview,LucieralsoexplainshowhecomposedSferics:“Myideawastotakesamplesfromeachhourandsplicethem.Butmysamplesweresobeautiful,andsorichlyrepresentativeofwhatactuallyoccurred,thatIhadnorealreasonforsplicingonesectionanymorethananother.Ilostinterestin‘composing’achronologyoutofthematerial.SoitoccurredtomethatIcoulddoamulti-trackoverdubbing,choosingasmuchmaterialasIwantedoneachtapeandlayingthatoneovertheother,soyou’dhearacompositeimage.Thatseemslikearicherideathansomeartificialchronologicalordering.Andthere’snostorythereexceptthatoftheselightningstormsthatareoccurringallabovetheearth,thatgetcaughtonthemagneticfluxlinesandpopoutoftheionosphere”(56).31.Lucier,Reflections,478.32.Ibid.,264.33.Linernotes,ArdittiQuartet,AlvinLucier:NavigationsforStrings,

SmallWaves(1991),ModeRecords124,2003,CD.34.J.A.Pierce,“Omega,”IEEEAESMagazine(July1989):4–13.35.Linernotes,ArdittiQuartet,AlvinLucier:NavigationsforStrings.36.Ibid.37.Thissimplemeansforproducingcomplexresultsisakintothe

phase-shiftingtapeloopcompositionsofSteveReich,beginningwithIt’sGonnaRain(1965),tomoirépatternsproducedopticallybysuperimposedsetsofconcentriccirclesslightlyaskewandothertechniquesinopart,andotherartisticprojectsmotivatedby“maximummeaningwithaminimalimage...multipleimplicationsthroughsimple,evenausteremeans.”GeorgeBrecht,RobertWatts,andAllanKaprow,“ProjectinMultipleDimensions”(1957–58),inIntroductiontoBookoftheTumbleronFire,byHenryMartin(Milan:MulthiplaEdizioni,1978),126–27.FortheroleofbeatingpatternsintheworkofLucierarisingfromtheuseofsinewaves,startingwithStillandMovingLinesofSilenceinFamiliesofHyperbolas(1973–74),seethechapter“HearingandSeeingtheShapesofSounds:


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AlvinLucier,1973–1984,”in“SineWavesandSimpleAcousticPhenomenainExperimentalMusic—withSpecialReferencetotheWorkofLaMonteYoungandAlvinLucier,”byPeterBlamey(PhDdissertation,UniversityofWesternSydney,2008).38.Lucier,Reflections,268.39.Graf,ListentoRadioEnergy,Light,andSound,67.

9.FROMBRAINWAVESTOOUTERSPACE1.TonyGnazzo,telephoneinterviewwiththeauthor,August2008;

CharlesShere,“NewMusicintheUnitedStates,1950–1980,”originallypublished(inItaliantranslation)inStoriadellaMusica(Milan:ArnoldoMondadoriEditore,1982),www.shere.org/articles/newmusicus.html(accessedSeptember20,2009).Shere,composer,writer,andstalwartoftheSanFranciscoBayAreanewmusiccommunity,wasmusicdirectorforthecommunityradiostationKPFA-FMfrom1964through1967andlecturedatMillsCollegeduringthe1970s.2.JohnCage,lettertoDavidTudordescribingplansforVariationsVII,

1966.LetterkindlyprovidedbyJulieMartinfromherpersonalcollectionofdocumentsfromExperimentsinArtandTechnology(E.A.T.).3.OnAtlasBorealisanditsrelationshiptothethunderclapsofJames

Joyce’sFinnegansWake,seeJohnCage,FortheBirds:InConversationwithDanielCharles(1976)(Boston:MarionBoyars,1981),211–12.4.JohnCage,“VariationsVII:12RemarksreMusicalPerformance,”

documentprovidedbyJulieMartinfromhercollectionofdocumentsfromE.A.T.5.Inhisownwords,itwasacompositionusing

“transmission/transformationviasystemdevelopedbyDavidTudor,BillyKlüveretal.”thatruledoutallrecordedsoundsources.JohnCage,lettertoDavidTudor,1966.6.Ibid.7.JohnCageandMortonFeldman,RadioHappenings:

Conversations/Gespäche(Cologne:EditionMusikTexte,1993),11–13.8.Ibid.,19.9.MythankstoGordonMummaandDavidVaughan,thearchivistatthe

MerceCunninghamDanceCompany,forhelpingmewiththedatesduringthisperiod.


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10.BillyKlüver,DVDlinernotes(textinitiallywritten1988)forJohnCage,VariationsVII,E.A.T.andArtpik,2008.11.JohnR.Pierce,interviewbyHarriettLyle,Pasadena,CA,April16,

23,and27,1979,p.19,OralHistoryProject,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnologyArchives,http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Pierce_J(accessedFebruary21,2006).12.“NewRadioWavesTracedtoCentreoftheMilkyWay,”NewYork

Times(May5,1933):1.13.KarlG.Jansky,“DirectionalStudiesofAtmosphericsatHigh

Frequencies,”ProceedingsoftheInstituteofRadioEngineers20,no.12(December1932):1920–32.14.ThetranscriptoftheWJZprogramisinJansky’spapers,in

possessionofProfessorTonyTyson,physicistattheUniversityofCaliforniaatDavis.IamgratefultohimforthearchivalmaterialonKarlJanskyandforveryhelpfulconversationsontelegraphy,naturalradio,andcosmologyattheearlystagesofmyresearch.15.Klüver,DVDlinernotesforCage,VariationsVII.16.HenryMiller,“WithEdgarVarèseintheGobiDesert,”inTheAir-

ConditionedNightmare(London:Grafton,1973),113–14.

10.FORMORENEWSIGNALS1.GordonMumma,“Live-ElectronicMusic,”inTheDevelopmentand

PracticeofElectronicMusic,editedbyJonH.AppletonandRonaldC.Perera(EnglewoodCliffs,NJ:Prentice-Hall,1975),286–35(331).2.GordonMumma,“Witchcraft,Cybersonics,andFolkloricVirtuosity,”

inDarmstädterBeitragezurNeueMusik(Mainz:MusikverlagSchott,1974),71–77(75).3.TheAndréBretonquotationisfromhisWhatIsSurrealism?(New

York:PathfinderPress,1978),17.4.DorothyNorman,“EdgardVarèse:Ionization-Espace,”TwiceaYear,

no.7(Fall–Winter1941):259–60.OnAntoninArtaudandVarèse,seethechapter“CelestialTelegraphies,”inSoundingNewMedia:ImmersionandEmbodimentintheArtsandCulture,byFrancesDyson(Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,2009),33–53.SeealsoMaríaFernández,“Estri-dentistas:TakingtheTeethOutofFuturism,”inAtaDistance:PrecursorstoArtandActivismontheInternet,editedbyAnnmarieChandlerandNorieNeumark(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,2005),342–


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71;andDouglasKahn,“RadioSpace,”inRadioRethink:Art,SoundandTransmission,editedbyDainaAugaitisandDanLander(Banff:WalterPhillipsGallery,1994),95–114.Foranaccountofwirelessnessandliteraturefromaninscriptivebasis,influencedbyFriedrichKittler,seeTimothyC.Campbell,WirelessWritingintheAgeofMarconi(Minneapolis:UniversityofMinnesotaPress,2006).5.ViktorShklovskii,“TheMonumenttotheThirdInternational”(1921),

inTatlin,editedbyLarissaAlekseevnaZhadova(NewYork:Rizzoli,1988),342–43.6.QuotedinEdwardJ.Brown,Mayakovsky:APoetintheRevolution

(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1973),227–28.Theellipsesareinthepoemitself.7.Ibid.8.VelimirKhlebnikov,“OurFundamentals,”CollectedWorks,vol.1,

LettersandTheoreticalWriting(Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress,1987),387.9.Ibid.,390.VanGoghentertainedstartravelbasedonthemechanics

oftransportratherthantransmission.Thebright-lightdotsofstarsinthenightskywereinverselycomparabletoblackdotsonamapofFrenchtownsandvillages.Whereasonecouldtakeatraintoatown,onlydeathcouldprovide“celestiallocomotion”ofone’ssoultoastar,with“cholera,gravel,pleurisy&cancer”expeditingthejourneyasifoneweretravelingonasteamboat,omnibus,orrailway,insteadofviatheslowgaitofdyingofoldage.VincentvanGogh,“LettertoTheovanGogh,”Arles,ca.July9,1888,editedbyRobertHarrison,no.506,http://webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/18/506.htm(accessedFebruary26,2010).10.JamesJoyce,FinnegansWake(London:Penguin,1982),309.11.F.T.MarinettiandPinoMasnata,LaRadia(1933),translatedby

StephenSartarelli,inWirelessImagination:Sound,RadioandtheAvant-Garde,editedbyDouglasKahnandGregoryWhitehead(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,1992),265–68.12.MargaretFisher,“‘TheArtofRadia’:PinoMasnata’sUnpublished

GlosstotheFuturistRadioManifestoIntroduction,”and“ExcerptsfromtheUnpublishedManuscriptofPinoMasnata:IlNomeRadia,”Modernism/Modernity19,no.1(January2012):155–58,159–75(168).13.StefanThemerson,“LettertoHenriChopin,”Ou36–37(1970):n.p.


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14.PaulineOliveros,“Valentine,”inElectronicMusic,byElliottSchwartz(NewYork:Praeger,1973),246.Thepassagealsostates,“ThesamegrandfatherusedtotrytoteachmetheMorseCodewithtelegraphkeys.Iwasn’tinterestedinthemessagesbutIlovedtheditdaditditrhythms.”Oliverosalsolistenedtoherparents’voicesinthecar,modulatedbytheenginevibrations,andthemusiconawind-upVictrolawhenthedrivemechanismwounddown.15.Foradiscussionofsourcesofsonicplenitude,seemy“EtherOre:

MiningVibrationsforModernistMusic,”inHearingCultures:EssaysonSound,Listening,andModernity,editedbyVeitErlmann(London:Berg,2004),107–30.16.“Afterall,”hecontinues,“allmusicandindeedallartisbasedon

physicalagencies.Oils,pigments,chisels,mallets,clay,strings,pipes,needles,acids,felt,wood,steel,andbrassareamongthemultitudeofprosaicarticleswhichwefashionintoworksofartoruseinartisticcreation.Whynotthatsubtlefluidofgreatestpower—electricity?”AlfredNortonGoldsmith,“ElectricityBecomesMusic:Introducingthe‘Emino,’”ModernMusic:AQuarterlyReview15,no.1(November–December1937):17–23(18).17.Ibid.,20–23.18.JohnCage,“TheFutureofMusic:Credo”(1940),inSilence:

LecturesandWritings(Middletown,CT:WesleyanUniversityPress,1961),3–6.AlthoughCage’sworkisdated1937inSilence,LetaE.Millerhasshowntheaccuratedatetobe1940inher“HenryCowellandJohnCage:IntersectionsandInfluences,1933–1941,”JournaloftheAmericanMusicologicalSociety59,no.1(Spring2006):47–112.19.Cage,“TheFutureofMusic:Credo,”5.“Electricalmusical

instrumentshaveattemptedtoimitateeighteenth-andnineteenth-centuryinstruments...[and]imitatethepastratherthanconstructthefuture”(4).Cagetemperedhiscommentsbysayingthat“most”inventorsdidso,makingadistinctionbetweentheThereminitselfandperformerswhousedtheTheremin.“Althoughtheinstrumentiscapableofawidevarietyofsoundqualities,obtainedbymereturningofadial,Thereministesactascensors”(4).20.E.D.Preston,reportingonapresentationattheCosmosClubtothe

PhilosophicalSocietyofWashingtonbyC.K.Wead,“ApplicationsofElectricitytoMusicalInstruments,”in“SocietiesandAcademies,”Science9,no.224(April14,1899):552–53.


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21.JohnCage,“ForMoreNewSounds,”ModernMusic19(May–June1942):245,reprintedinJohnCage,editedbyRichardKostelanetz(NewYork:Praeger,1971),64–66.ThetechnicalessayCagecitesisHarveyFletcher,“Loudness,PitchandtheTimbreofMusicalTonesandTheirRelationtotheIntensity,theFrequencyandtheOvertoneStructure,”JournaloftheAcousticalSocietyofAmerica6,no.2(October1934):54–69.SeealsoVernO.Knudsen,“AnEartotheFuture,”JournaloftheAcousticalSocietyofAmerica11,no.1(July1939):29–36.22.Knudsen,“AnEartotheFuture,”36.23.MaxMathews,TheTechnologyofComputerMusic(Cambridge,

MA:MITPress,1969),2–4.Mathewsjokedthatthiscouldhavebeendonewithaphonograph:“Ifonehadaminutechisel,groovesfornewsoundscouldbecutbyhand.However,thecomputercanaccomplishanequivalentresultbyamucheasierprocess”(3).Inthecompetitionwithincomputing,Mathewspointedout,“Weweretheonlyonesintheworldatthetimewhohadtherightkindofdigital-to-analogconverterhookeduptoadigitaltapetransportthatwouldplayacomputertape.Sowehadamonopoly,ifyouwill,onthisprocess.”CurtisRoads,“InterviewwithMaxMathews,”inTheMusicMachine,editedbyCurtisRoads(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,1989),6.24.JamesTenney,personalnotes,August8,1965,in“JamesTenney

Fonds,1978—018/005,”fileno.4,ScottLibraryArchivesandSpecialCollections,YorkUniversity,Toronto.NotethatTenneymakesnodistinctionherebetween“computer”and“electronic”music.25.Ibid.26.ForadiscussionofTenney’sMetabolicMusicandotheractsof

artisticmaleinteroception,seemy“LetMeHearMyBodyTalk,MyBodyTalk,”inRe:Live—NewDirectionsinMediaArtHistories,editedbySeanCubittandPaulThomas(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,2013).27.Mumma,“Live-ElectronicMusic,”331.28.QuotedinHowardJunker,“ElectronicMusic—‘Wiggy,’”Newsweek

(May22,1967):98.29.PaulineOliveros,interviewwiththeauthor,Berkeley,May2006.30.Junker,“ElectronicMusic—‘Wiggy,’”98.31.GordonMumma,interviewwiththeauthor,SanFrancisco,

December18,2008.


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11.SOUNDOFTHEUNDERGROUND1.SeeHarryM.Hine,“SeismologyandVulcanologyinAntiquity,”in

ScienceandMathematicsinAncientGreekCulture,editedbyC.J.TuplinandT.E.Rihll(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2002),56–75;andSpyrosMissiakoulis,“AristotleandEarthquakeData:AHistoricalNote,”InternationalStatisticalReview76,no.1(2008):130–33.2.C.A.Lawsonetal.,TheCaliforniaEarthquakeofApril18,1906:

ReportoftheStateEarthquakeInvestigationCommission,1/I,part2(Washington,DC:CarnegieInstitutionofWashington,1908),203.Forapost-Aristotelianunderstandingofearthquakesounds,seeDavidP.Hilletal.,“EarthquakeSoundsGeneratedbyBody-WaveGroundMotion,”BulletinoftheSeismologicalSocietyofAmerica66,no.4(August1976):1159–72.3.Arecordingofthesameearthquakewasinadvertentlymadewhena

highschoolstudentfromadifferentpartofthePugetSoundarearecordedhismusicalperformanceinabandroom:“Theearthquakesoundsaremixedwithacymbalfallingtothefloor,thenmixedwiththebandrisersfallingfromstorage,thenmixedwiththestudentsleavingthebuilding.Theschool’sfirebellfinallyrings.”KarlV.Steinbrugge,“ACatalogofEarthquakeRelatedSounds,”BulletinoftheSeismologicalSocietyofAmerica64,no.5(October1974):1409–18(1416).4.AlexandervonHumboldt,Cosmos:ASketchofaPhysicalDescription

oftheUniverse,vol.1,translatedbyE.C.Otté(London:HenryG.Bohn,1864),212.5.QuotedinDavidNye,AmericanTechnologicalSublime(Cambridge,

MA:MITPress,1994),246.6.Humboldt,Cosmos,212.7.JohnMuir,“InyoEarthquakeofMarch26,1872,”inOurNational

Parks(1901),inEightWilderness-DiscoveryBooks(Seattle:TheMountaineersBooks,1992),563.8.Ibid.,563–64.9.AndrewThomson,“EarthquakeSoundsHeardatGreatDistance,”

Nature124,no.3131(November2,1929):687–88.10.CharlesDavison,AStudyofRecentEarthquakes(London:Walter

ScottPublishing,1905),229–31;CharlesDavison,“EarthquakeSounds,”BulletinoftheSeismologicalSocietyofAmerica28,no.3(July1938):147–61.


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11.Davison,“EarthquakeSounds,”147–48.12.Ibid.,150–51.13.SeeAriBen-Menahem,“AConciseHistoryofMainstream

Seismology,”BulletinoftheSeismologicalSocietyofAmerica85,no.4(August1995):1202–25;ErnstvonRebeur-Paschwitz,“TheEarthquakeofTokio,April18,1889,”Nature40,no.1030(July25,1889):294–95;andJamesDeweyandPerryByerly,“TheEarlyHistoryofSeismology(to1900),”BulletinoftheSeismologicalSocietyofAmerica59,no.1(February1969):183–227.14.HaroldAllen,“RE:VLF.RXs,”ondiscussionforumfortheonline

magazineAntennex(August9,1999),www.antennex.com/storage/general/_general/00000014.htm(accessedFebruary26,2008).15.FriedrichKittler,“LightningandSeries—EventandThunder,”

Theory,CultureandSociety23,nos.7–8(2006):63–74.16.GeoffreyWinthrop-Young,“ImplosionandIntoxication:Kittler,a

GermanClassic,andPinkFloyd,”Theory,Culture,andSociety23,nos.7–8(2006):75–91.17.DeanS.CarderandLeslieF.Bailey,“SeismicWaveTravelTimes

fromNuclearExplosions,”BulletinoftheSeismologicalSocietyofAmerica48(October1958):377–98(377).SeealsoBen-Menahem,“AConciseHistoryofMainstreamSeismology,”1212,whichstates,“Theuseofundergroundnuclearexplosionsaspointsources,eachwithaccuratelyknownlocationandtimeoforigin,greatlyenhancedthecapabilitiesofseismicstudiesoftheEarth’sinterior.ThefirsteventofthistypefromwhichdatabecameavailabletoseismologistswastheunderwaterexplosionnearBikiniAtollon24July1946.Sincethen,datafromover1000nuclearexplosionshavebeenanalyzedandstudiedinresearchcentersaroundtheworld.”18.B.Gutenberg,“InterpretationofRecordsObtainedfromtheNew

MexicoAtomicBombTest,July16,1945,”BulletinoftheSeismologicalSocietyofAmerica36,no.4(October1,1946):327–30.19.WilliamL.Laurence,DawnOverZero:TheStoryoftheAtomic

Bomb(NewYork:AlfredA.Knopf,1946),4.20.Ibid.21.JamesJoyce,Ulysses(NewYork:ModernLibrary,1946),768.22.“MinutesoftheSecondMeetingoftheTargetCommittee:Los


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Alamos,May10–11,1945,”USNationalArchives,RecordGroup77,RecordsoftheOfficeoftheChiefofEngineers,ManhattanEngineerDistrict,TSManhattanProjectfile’42–’46,folder5DSelectionofTargets,2NotesonTargetCommitteeMeetings,reproducedontheManhattanProjectHeritagePreservationAssociationwebsite,www.mphpa.org/classic/HISTORY/H-07d.htm(accessedNovember23,2009).23.RobertJayLifton,DeathinLife:SurvivorsofHiroshima(NewYork:

RandomHouse,1967),19.SeealsoJohnHersey,“ANoiselessFlash,”chapter1inHiroshima(NewYork:ModernLibrary,1946),3–23.24.FumikoNonaka,“TheFaceofAnother,”inHibakusha:Survivorsof

HiroshimaandNagasaki,editedbyNaomiShohono,translatedbyGaynorSekimori(Tokyo:KoseiPublishing,1987),89–92(89).25.GeneSherman,“ColiseumThrongViewsTableauofWarScenes,”

LosAngelesTimes(October28,1945):2.26.CarderandBailey,“SeismicWaveTravelTimesfromNuclear

Explosions,”377–98.27.Ibid.28.CharlesRichter,interviewedbyAnnScheid,February15–

September1,1978,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnologyArchives,Pasadena,CAhttp://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Richter_C(accessedOctober6,2009).29.T.N.Burke-GaffneyandK.E.Bullen,“SeismologicalandRelated

Aspectsofthe1954HydrogenBombExplosions,”AustralianJournalofPhysics10(1957):130–36.KeithBullen,oftheUniversityofSydney,proposedin1955thatatomicbombsbedetonatedforscientificpurposesaspartoftheInternationalGeophysicalYear;althoughthatnevercametopass,inthelate1960sandearly1970stheAtomicEnergyCommissionfiredsevenshotsforscientificpurposesforVelaUniform.Seefootnotes34and35inKai-HenrikBarth,“ThePoliticsofSeismology:NuclearTesting,ArmsControl,andtheTransformationofaDiscipline,”SocialStudiesofScience33,no.5(October2003):743–81.30.RonaldE.Doel,“ConstitutingthePostwarEarthSciences:The

Military’sInfluenceontheEnvironmentalSciencesintheUSAafter1945,”SocialStudiesofScience33,no.5(October2003):635–66.31.MeyerBerger,“AboutNewYork:2Quakes,Blastand‘AtomBomb’;

BusyNight,”NewYorkTimes(August19,1953):31,reprintedinMeyer


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http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Richter_C

Berger,MeyerBerger’sNewYork(NewYork:RandomHouse,1960),34–35(34).32.Ibid.,35.33.“EarthquakesandCosmicMusicforSaleonDisks,”NewYork

Times(April4,1955):31,reprintedinBerger,MeyerBerger’sNewYork,136–37(136).34.EricD.Barry,“High-FidelitySoundasSpectacleandSublime,

1950–1961,”inSoundintheAgeofMechanicalReproduction,editedbyDavidSuismanandSusanStrasser(Philadelphia:UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,2009),115–38(120).ThanksalsotoMarkKarneyoftheYahooNaturalRadioVLFDiscussionGroupforhisassistancewithOutofThisWorld,CookLaboratories5012,1953,LP.35.Linernotes,OutofthisWorld.36.Ibid.37.Ibid.38.Ibid.Inexplaininghowtheseismicrecordingequipmentandthe

frequenciesofearthquakesthemselvesrelatedtooneanother,thelinernotespointedoutthat“thetapetravelsat.02inchespersecond.Butevenduringnearbyearthquakes,therateofmotionissoslowintermsofcyclespersecondthatthetapedsignalsplayedbackatoriginalspeedcannotbeheardassound.Therefore,theyareplayedbackhereatthemoreconventionalspecsof15,7½,3¾/sec.Itissomewhatasthoughweplayeda33⅓rpmrecordat12,000rpm.”39.Ibid.Similarcomparisonsoccurredinthegeneralliterature.C.L.

Strong,the“AmateurScientist”columnistforScientificAmerican,wroteinhisessay“TheAttractionsofAmateurSeismology,”that“agreatshocksuchastheJapanesequakeinDecember,1946,hasamagnitudeofabout8.6;anatomicbombexplosionmayproduceaquakeratedat5.5,andamildquakethatcausesdishestorattleinthevicinityofthequakecenterhasamagnitudeof2.5.”C.L.Strong,TheAmateurScientist(NewYork:SimonandSchuster,1960),233–34.40.AssociatedPress,“QuakeInspiredViolinInvention:New

Instruments,DevelopedbyDr.HugoBenioffonSeismographPrinciples;ArePlayedinCaliforniaConcert,”NewYorkTimes(June13,1938):3.IamgratefultoMarthaBenioffforherkindassistance.41.HugoBenioff,“StringedMusicalInstrument,”USPatentno.

2,222,057,submittedApril2,1938,grantedNovember19,1940.Kahn, Douglas. Earth Sound Earth Signal : Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts, University of California Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1337907.Created from yale-ebooks on 2020-02-23 06:09:57.

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42.Ibid.43.HugoBenioff,“GlobalStrainAccumulationandReleaseasRevealed

byGreatEarthquakes,”BulletinoftheGeophysicalSocietyofAmerica62,no.10(April1951):331–38(335).SeealsoHugoBenioff,“SeismicEvidencefortheFaultOriginofOceanicDeeps,”BulletinoftheGeologicalSocietyofAmerica60,no.12(December1949):1337–66.44.Benioff,“StringedMusicalInstrument,”USPatentno.2,222,057.45.SheridanSpeethcurriculumvitae(ca.1986).Iamindebtedto

ChristopherEricSpeethandLaurenSpeethfortheirassistancewithdocumentsandmemoriesregardingSheridanSpeeth.46.AbetterpictureispaintedbySusanHough,whopointsoutthat2

percentoftheUSfunding($900,000)representeddirectexpenditureanddidnotincludetheexpensesoftheUSmilitary,especiallythoseofmovingseismologistsandtheirequipmenttoremotelocationsandmaintainingsuchoperations,whichcouldhavetotaledupto$1billionin1958dollars.SusanE.Hough,“SeismologyandtheInternationalGeophysicalYear,”SeismologicalResearchLetters79,no.2(March–April2008),www.seismosoc.org/publications/SRL/SRL_79/srl_79–2_hs.html(accessedJanuary6,2010).Still,asHoughrestates,“Between1960and1963,VelaUniformreceived$110.7million,30%ofwhichwasearmarkedforbasicresearch.”47.CarlRomney,“AmplitudesofSeismicBodyWavesfromUnderground

NuclearExplosions,”JournalofGeophysicalResearch64,no.10(October1959):1489–98.48.ThesourceforthisaspectofSpeeth’slifeisPhilipG.Schrag,

“ScientistsandtheTestBan,”YaleLawJournal75,no.8(July1966):1340–63.SpeethjoinedtheliberalorganizationCommitteeforaSaneNuclearPolicyand,afterreturningfromavisittoCubain1960,joinedtheNewYorkchapterofFairPlayforCubaandservedonitsexecutivecommitteebeforeitwascommandeeredbyCommunistsin1961.HealsowasamemberoftheSocietyforSocialResponsibilityinScience,contributedtotheCommitteeforNon-ViolentAction,auditedacoursebythehistorianHerbertAptheker,whobelongedtotheCPUSA,andwasarrestedforprotestinganair-raiddrillinNewYorkCity.49.“Onedayinthespringof1962,hewascalledintotheofficeofhis

superiorandtoldthathewouldnotbeabletogeteventhelowestgradeofsecurityclearance,andthereforehewouldnotbeabletoseetheimprovedrecordings.Hewasalsotoldthatsincehecouldnotseetherecordings,he


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wouldnotbeabletomakemuchofacontribution,andthereforehewasbeingtakenoffoftheVelaUniformproject.SpeethhadoncebeforerequestedBelltoputinanapplicationfor‘confidential’clearanceforhim,buthehadbeentoldthatitwassocertainthathecouldnotgetit,thatitwouldbeawasteofmoneytoconductasecurityreview.”Schrag,“ScientistsandtheTestBan,”1360.50.SheridanDausterSpeeth,“SeismometerSounds,”Journalofthe

AcousticalSocietyofAmerica33,no.7(July1961):909–16.51.Ibid.SeealsoB.P.Bogert,“SeismicDataCollection,Reductionand

Digitization,”BulletinoftheSeismologicalSocietyofAmerica51,no.4(October1961):515–25.52.OnSpeeth’smusicalskills,seeProfessorGeorgeSperling,Speeth’s

fellowgraduatestudentatHarvardandcolleagueatBellLabs,correspondencewiththeauthor,January8,2011.Onhispreferenceforcellists,seeLaurenSpeethandChristopherSpeeth,correspondencewiththeauthor,April5,2009.53.ChristopherSpeeth,correspondencewiththeauthor,April2,2009.54.MusicfromMathematics,releasedbyBellLaboratoriesin1960

andbyDeccaRecords,DL9103,in1962.55.LinernotestoMusicfromMathematics,DeccaRecordsDL9103,

1962,LP.56.AsTenneyrecounted,“He[Speeth]loanedmetheSelected

WritingsofReich.CaroleeandIthoughtthatitwasveryveryinteresting.”JamesTenney,interviewwiththeauthor,publishedas“JamesTenneyatBellLabs,”LeonardoElectronicAlmanac8,no.11(February2001):n.p.SchneemannrememberedSpeeth’s“passionateinterestinsexualityandtheconnectionsReich’sresearchmadetofascism.HeoftenhadlunchwithusinthehouseonthehillwherewelivedbrieflyduringJim’stimeatBellLabs.Hewassoknowledgeable,ardentandpoliticallyastute.HeinspiredourintensiveresearchintoallthatReichwrote.”CaroleeSchneemann,correspondencewiththeauthor,January10,2011.57.CarlaBleythoughtthatSpeeth’sneologismchronotransduction

meant“walkingthroughlifewithouteffort.”JackBruce,ComposingHimself(London:JawbonePress,2010),140–41.SeealsoCarlaBley,“Accomplishing‘EscalatorOvertheHill,’”www.angelfire.com/jazz/jm3/eoth_notes_accomp.html(accessedDecember30,2010),originallyfromImpetus(June–July1976).ButthewordchronotransductionmayhavecomefromSpeeth’sengineeringlanguage


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(e.g.,thelinernotestoMusicfromMathematicsstatedthatallthemusicwas“playedbyIBM7090COMPUTERandDIGITALTOSOUNDTRANSDUCER”),appliedtoHaines’slyrics,wherebythechronosofmemoryandhistorymoveinandoutofthestatesofthepresent.SuchtimemanipulationwouldhavemadesenseforsomeonewhohadusedtheIBM7090withitsdigital-to-analogtransducertotime-compressglobalandhistoricaleventsfortrainedmusicians.SheridanSpeethandhiswife,SusanAlexanderSpeeth,madealargedonationtowardtheproductionofEscalatorOvertheHill.SusanSpeeth’stragicmurderinPhiladelphiain1975wasanimpetusforTakeBacktheNight.58.GordonMumma,correspondencewiththeauthor,August18,2008.59.“He[Speeth]hatedhisjobdesigningweaponsandrefusedtodesign

anythingthatwouldcausepermanentdamagetothe‘enemy.’Thisiswhyheeventuallyleftthatareaofinvestigationbutnotbefore[workingon]avarietyofdevices....Hewasupsetthatadevicetotemporallyblurvisionwasappliedtopilotsintheair.”ChristopherSpeeth,correspondencewiththeauthor,February16,2005.SeealsoSheridanDausterSpeeth,“TheRationalDesignofToys,”JournalofCreativeBehavior1,no.4(1967):398–410.60.GordonMumma,interviewwiththeauthor,December18,2008.

Unlessotherwisenoted,informationfromMummaisfromthisinterview.61.SeeG.E.FranttiandL.A.Levereault,“AuditoryDiscriminationof

SeismicSignalsfromEarthquakesandExplosions,”BulletinoftheSeismologicalSocietyofAmerica55,no.1(February1965):1–25(7).Thepaperwasbasedonthe1964reportInvestigationofAuditoryDiscriminationofSeismicSignalsfromEarthquakesandExplosions,Report:AD-437784,filedbyVELASeismicInformationAnalysisCenteratUniversityofMichigan,AnnArbor.62.DavidWillis,telephoneinterviewwiththeauthor,December5,

2008.63.D.E.WillisandJ.C.Johnson,“SomeSeismicResultsUsingMagnetic

TapeRecording,”EarthquakeNotes30,no.3(September1959):21–25(22).64.TheproformaparagraphplacedonreportsbyProjectMichigan

statedthattheprojectconsistedofa“continuingresearchanddevelopmentprogramforadvancingtheArmy’slong-rangecombat-surveillanceandtarget-acquisitioncapabilities.”AfterdescribingtheroleofWillowRunandUniversityofMichiganresearchers,itcontinued,“The


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emphasisoftheProjectisuponbasicandappliedresearchinradar,infrared,acoustics,seismics,informationprocessinganddisplay,navigationandguidanceforaerialplatforms,andsystemsconcepts.Particularattentionisgiventoall-weather,long-range,high-resolutionsensoryandlocationtechniques,andtoevaluationsofsystemsandequipmentsboththroughsimulationandbymeansoflaboratoryandfieldtests.”65.GordonMumma,correspondencewiththeauthor,April19,2009.66.Seethechapter“TheRiseandFallofGrammophonmusik,”in

CapturingSound:HowTechnologyHasChangedMusic,byMarkKatz(Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,2010),109–23.67.GordonMumma,correspondencewiththeauthor,September30,

2008.AsMummasaidwithregardtooneMograph,“Thetime-travelpatternsoftheP-andS-wavesaredifferent,buthavesimilaritiestothecomplexsound-reflectioncharacteristicsofmusicalperformancespaces.”GordonMumma,“MediumSizeMograph1962,”LeonardoMusicJournal21(2011):77–78(77).68.Intheiruseofgeophysicaldatainmusic,theMographspredatethe

popularsuccessofCharlesDodge’sEarth’sMagneticField(1970).69.MichelleFillion,linernotestoGordonMumma:MusicforSolo

Piano(1960–2001),NewWorldRecords80686,2008,CD.70.“Doesanyonewanttosaythatthepianoisneartheendoftheroad?

Exceptforhowitisplayed,nothingofsignificancehashappenedtoitinalmostacentury.Fewmachinessurviveaslongasthepianowithsolittleoverhaul.Performanceinnovationstaxtheinstrumenttothelimit.Someofthosewhoestablishedtheinnovations,likeDavidTudor,aremovingtootherground.Othersofusarestillriggingthebeastwithaccessoriesandcrammingitwithelectronics.Thosewhotakeoffencecannolongerseekrefugebehindyourshoutsof‘desecration.’Ageisnotenoughtomakeanobjectsacred.Welivewithavastnewliteraturewhich,thoughthreateningthemechanism,isitsviablerepertoire.Themechanismmustchangetoaccommodatethemusic.Attheendoftheroadwemightmakeitfly.”GordonMumma,statementaboutMographsandpianosinalettertoUdoKasemets,September23,1967,providedtotheauthorbyMumma.71.GordonMumma,correspondencewiththeauthor,April19,2009.72.GordonMumma,programnotestoMediumSizeMograph1963.73.GordonMumma,correspondencewiththeauthor,April19,2009.74.RichardSchmidtJames,“ONCE:Microcosmofthe1960sMusicaland


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MultimediaAvant-Garde,”AmericanMusic5,no.4(Winter1987):359–90(374).75.UdoKasemets,CANAVANGARD:MusicoftheNineteenSixtiesand

AfterSeries(DonMills,ON:BMICanada,1967),84.76.SeeUnitedStatesNuclearTests:July1945throughSeptember

1992,Report209-REV15,USDepartmentofEnergy,NevadaOperationsOffice(December2000).77.GordonMumma,interviewwiththeauthor,December18,2008.A

numberofartists,musicians,andscientistshaveincorporatedseismicphenomenaintotheirworksandpublicdemonstrations,includingJuanGeurer(AlAsnaam),Trimpin(Seismophone),MattRogalsky(“WhenhewasinhighschoolinTexasEricRyanMimsusedasimilararrangementtodetectundergroundnucleartestsinNevada”)(seereferencetoRyan’sfather,ForrestMimsIII,inchapter19),MarkBain(PortableEarthquakeandStartEndTime,thelatterbasedontheseismicsoftheWorldTradeCenterdestruction),D.V.Rogers(ParkfieldInterventionalEQFieldwork),JohnT.Bullitt(EarthSound),andtheworkofFlorianDomboisandofBenHoltzman.Tokeepthingsinperspective,entirenationsandtheirartscommunitiescanbetransformedbyseismicevents,asoccurredoverashortperiodoftimein2011withtheChristchurch,NewZealand,andTohoku,Japan,earthquakes.MyonlylectureonseismologyandmusicwasgivenatthePhysicsRoominChristchurchonDecember15,2010,justpriortothedevastatingearthquake.

12.LONGSOUNDSANDTRANSPERCEPTION1.“TelephoningExtraordinary,”NewYorkTimes(March17,1887):2.2.MarinMersenne,HarmonieUniverselle(1636),citedanddiscussed

inFrederickVintonHunt,OriginsinAcoustics;TheScienceofSoundfromAntiquitytotheAgeofNewton(NewHaven,CT:YaleUniversityPress,1978),87.3.Ibid.,86–87.4.“Mistpouffer,Uminari,AtmosphericNoises,MonthlyWeather

Review43,no.7(July1915):314–15.SeefahrtswouldalsobeGermanforsoundsassociatedwith“seafaring.”Seealso“SeismicNoises,”MonthlyWeatherReview25,no.9(September1897):393;and“SeismicNoises,”MonthlyWeatherReview26,no.12(December1898):562.5.J.Scherer,“NotesonRemarkableEarthquakeSoundsinHaiti,”


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BulletinoftheSeismologicalSociety2,no.4(December1,1912):230—32(231).6.Ibid.,231.7.SimãodeVasconcelles,citedinTheQuarterlyReview(London)12

(October1814andJanuary1815):343–44.8.R.D.M.Verbeek,“TheKrakatoaExplosion,”Nature30,no.757

(May1,1884):10–15(11).Anotheranecdotalreportplacedthesoundasfarawayasnearly3,000miles(4,800km).SimonWinchester,Krakatoa(NewYork:HarperCollins,2004),259–61.SeealsoT.SimkinandR.Fiske,Krakatau1883—TheVolcanicEruptionandItsEffects(Washington,DC:SmithsonianInstitutionPress,1983);andG.J.Symons,ed.,TheEruptionofKrakatoa:ReportoftheKrakatoaCommitteeoftheRoyalSociety(London:Trübner&Co.,1888),78–88.9.Symons,TheEruptionofKrakatoa,79–80.10.Ibid,81.11.Ibid,83.12.Ibid.13.Verbeek,“TheKrakatoaExplosion,”11.14.WalterMunketal.,OceanAcousticTomography(Cambridge:

CambridgeUniversityPress,1995),329.15.FromaboatnearHeardIsland,underwaterprojectorstransmitted

soundatacontinuousrateat57hertzwithasourcelevelofaround220decibels(160+dBat1km,137+dBat72kmatdepth80m,and120+dBat100–1,000km)intothedeepsoundchannel.Munk,OceanAcousticTomography,337–39.“HeardIslandwaschosenfortworeasons:therelativelyshallowchanneldepth(200m)atthathigh-latitudelocation,andtheunobstructedgreat-circlepathwaysintomaypartsoftheAtlantic,PacificandIndianoceans.”W.JohnRichardsonetal.,MarineMammalsandNoise(SanDiego:AcademicPress,1995),66–67.16.“Changesinbehaviorofpilotwhalesandspermwhalesprovided

unequivocalevidenceofbehavioraleffectsofthetransmissions.”AnnE.Bowlesetal.,“RelativeAbundanceandBehaviorofMarineMammalsExposedtoTransmissionsfromtheHeardIslandFeasibilityTest,”JournaloftheAcousticalSocietyofAmerica96,no.4(October1994):2469–84(2483).SeealsoMunk,OceanAcousticTomography,334–39;andRichardson,MarineMammalsandNoise,65–67,155.“Theoperationhasbeenputlargelyonhold,duetooppositionfromenvironmentaland


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ecologicalgroups,whofearedharmtotheanimalspeciesintheocean.”RobertT.Beyer,SoundsofOurTimes:TwoHundredYearsofAcoustics(NewYork:Springer-Verlag,1999),384.However,high-decibelactivesonararraysinjurioustomarinemammalsarebeingdeployedforsubmarinedetectionbytheUnitedStatesundertheauspicesofthe“homeland”securitystate.17.Munk,OceanAcousticTomography,339.18.RogerS.PayneandScottMcVay,“SongsofHumpbackWhales,”

Science173,no.3997(August13,1971):585–97.19.SongsoftheHumpbackWhale,CommunicationResearch

Machines,CRMRecordsSWR118,1970,LP.20.RogerPayneandDouglasWebb,“OrientationbyMeansofLong

RangeAcousticSignallingBaleenWhales,”AnnalsoftheNewYorkAcademyofSciences188(December1971):110–41(110).21.Ibid.22.AlvinLucier,Reflections:Interviews,Scores,Writings(Cologne:

EditionMusikTexte,1995),326–31.23.Ibid.,110–12.24.Ibid.,326.25.TheoceanacousticaloriginofQuasimodoandIamsittingina

roomhavesomethingelseincommon:“Arangeofobjects,fromtinydustparticlesandbubblestothemyriadsofaquaticlife,aswellastheroughnessofthesurface,especiallyinstormyweather,andtheirregularitiesofthebottom,allcontributetothescattingofanysoundsignaltravelingthroughthemedium.Thetotalityofsuchscatteringisknownasreverberation,andisacounterparttothephenomenainvolvedinroomacoustics.”Beyer,SoundsofOurTimes,255.26.Lucier,Reflections,326.27.AlvinLucier,interviewwithEvGrimes,June6,1986,p.104,

AmericanMusicSeries,OralHistoryofAmericanMusic,YaleUniversityLibrary,NewHaven,CT(OHAM).28.AlvinLucier,interviewwithVivianPerlis,April28,1993,pp.1–3

(2),OHAM.29.Ibid.,2.30.Lucier,Reflections,328.


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31.Ibid.Luciertriedmorevociferousforms,butthey“soundedawkwardandgrotesque.Theysoundedtoopsychological;theupwardanddownwardsweepssoundedlikemoaning”(106).32.TransnationalEcologiesI:SoundsTravelproject,

www.transnationalecologies.net(accessedFebruary22,2012).33.MattRogalsky,emailcorrespondencewiththeauthor,March6,

2012.34.HenryDavidThoreau,journalentry,May1,1851,Journal:Volume

3;1848–1851(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1990),212.35.Thoreau,journalentry,October12,1851,Journal:Volume4;1851–

1852(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1990),143.36.Ibid.,142–43.Avariationofthispassageappearsinthe“Sounds”

chapterofWalden.37.Ibid.,143.38.Ibid.39.“TelephoningExtraordinary,”NewYorkTimes.40.NamJunePaik,piecefroma1961–62seriesofworks,publishedat

Kalendar’63,Düsseldorf,EversonMuseumofArt,Syracuse,NY.41.ChristopherBartletteetal.,“EffectofNetworkLatencyon

InteractiveMusicalPerformance,”MusicPerception24,no.1(September2006):49–62(49).42.MythankstoChrisChafeofStanfordUniversityforassistingme

withmattersofnetworklatency;correspondencewiththeauthor,March22,2012.

13.PAULINEOLIVEROS1.SeePaulineOliveros,“AuralizingintheSonosphere:AVocabularyof

InnerSoundandSounding,”JournalofVisualCulture10,no.2(August2011):162–68.2.PaulineOliveros,“ImprovisationintheSonosphere,”Contemporary

MusicReview,25,nos.5–6(October–December2006):481–82.Oliveros’susageofthetermtechnosphereisinformedbytheNewAgewriterJoséArgüellesinhisbookTimeandtheTechnosphere:TheLawofTimeinHumanAffairs(Rochester,VT:BearandCompany,2002).Argüellesisbestknownforthe“HarmonicConvergence”in1987andhisroleinaNewAge


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http://www.transnationalecologies.net

appropriationofMayancosmology.3.PaulineOliveros,interviewwiththeauthor,Berkeley,April22,2006.4.Ibid.5.PaulineOliveros,“QuantumListening:FromPracticetoTheory(to

PracticePractice),”n.d.,www.deeplistening.org/pauline/writings/quantum_listening.html(accessedApril16,2006).6.PaulineOliveros,“QuantumImprovisation:TheCybernetic

Presence,”keynoteaddressattheImprovisationAcrossBordersconference,UniversityofCaliforniaatSanDiego,April11,1999,www.deeplistening.org/pauline/writings/quantum.html(accessedApril8,2005).ThistalkwasinfluencedbytechnofuturistRayKurzweilandhisbookTheAgeofSpiritualMachines(NewYork:Penguin,1999).7.Oliveros’snotionofthebiospherederivesfromVladimirVernadsky;

seehisBiosphere(NewYork:Copernicus,1997).8.Oliveros,“ImprovisationintheSonosphere,”481.9.AlvinLucier,“‘Thereareallthesethingshappening’:Thoughtson

Installations,”inReflections:Interviews,Scores,Writings(Cologne:EditionMusikTexte,1995),524.10.PaulineOliveros,paraphrasedbyLucierin“InterviewwithWilliam

Duckworth”(1981),inReflections,322.Oliverosincludedbrainwavesonanotheroccasionwhenshelistenedtoinsects“singinginthesupersonicrange,”hearing“theircombinationtoneswhiletheinsectsprobablyheartheradiofrequencysoundscreatedbymotordrones,butnotthefundamentals.Ifwecouldhearthemicro-world,wewouldprobablyhearthebrainfunctioning.”PaulineOliveros,“SomeSoundObservations”(1968),reprintedinSource:MusicoftheAvant-Garde,1966–1973,editedbyLarryAustinandDouglasKahn(Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,2011),137.11.Oliveros,“ImprovisationintheSonosphere,”481–82.12.GordonMumma,“Witchcraft,Cybersonics,andFolkloric

Virtuosity,”inDarmstädterBeitragezurNeueMusik(Mainz:MusikverlagSchott,1974),71–77(74).13.Oliveros,interview,April22,2006.14.Ibid.15.H.P.Blavatsky,TheVoiceoftheSilence,BeingChosenFragments


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http://www.deeplistening.org/pauline/writings/quantum.html

fromthe“BookoftheGoldenPrecepts”(London:TheosophicalPublishingCompany,1889),89.16.BenjaminSilliman,PrinciplesofPhysics,orNaturalPhilosophy,

DesignedfortheUseofCollegesandSchools(Philadelphia:T.Bliss&Co.,1863),252.17.C.W.Leadbeater,TheHiddenSideofThings(1913)(Adyar,

Madras,India:TheosophicalPublishingHouse,1948),210.MythankstoLucianoChessa,whodirectedmetothispassage.18.SeeHirooKanamori,“ShakingwithoutQuaking,”Science279,no.

5359(March27,1998):2063–64;NaokiSuda,KazunariNawa,andYoshioFukao,“Earth’sBackgroundFreeOscillations,”Science279,no.5359(March27,1998):2089–91;andJunkeeRhieandBarbaraRomanowicz,“ExcitationofEarth’sContinuousFreeOscillationsbyAtmosphere-Ocean-SeafloorCoupling,”Nature431,no.7008(September30,2004):552–56.19.GreggBraden,AwakeningtoZeroPoint:TheCollectiveInitiation

(Questa,NM:SacredSpaces,1994),113.In2002,thecomposerDavidFirstwasresearchingasoundinstallationusingbrainwaveswhenhediscoveredthatSchumannresonancesintersectedwiththesamefrequencyrange.ThisputhiminapredicamentcaughtbetweenmagicalNewAgethought,withits“outsiderscience,”andhardscienceproper.HerejectedclaimsthattheSchumannresonancecouldfundamentallychangebutremainedintriguedwiththecorrelationofbrainwaves.Thisconformstohisinsightoftheartistas“someonewhodrawsupontheunexplainablebutwhodoesnotwishtosharethecredit.”DavidFirst,“TheMusicoftheSphere:AnInvestigationintoAsymptoticHarmonics,BrainwaveEntrainmentandtheEarthasaGiantBell,”LeonardoMusicJournal13(2003):31–37(32).20.BrianGreene,TheElegantUniverse:Superstrings,Hidden

Dimensions,andtheQuestfortheUltimateTheory(NewYork:Vintage,2003),135.21.JosephEger,Einstein’sViolin:AConductor’sNotesonMusic,

Physics,andSocialChange(NewYork:Tarcher/Penguin,2005),144,211–12.22.AndrewDeutsch,correspondencewiththeauthor,May27,2008.23.Ibid.24.Ibid.25.Oliveros,interview,April22,2006.


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26.PaulineOliveros,“Valentine,”inElectronicMusic,byElliottSchwartz(NewYork:Praeger,1973),246.27.PaulineOliveros,“SomeSoundObservations,”136.28.Oliveros,interview,April22,2006.29.ScotGresham-Lancaster,correspondencewiththeauthor,

September30,2006.30.PaulineOliveros,“EchoesfromtheMoon:Notes,”

www.deeplistening.org/pauline/writings/moon.html(accessedApril16,2006).31.Gresham-Lancaster,correspondence,September30,2006.32.“InElectricity’sField,”LosAngelesTimes(July1,1895):3.33.JohnDeWittJr.,quotedinAndrewJ.Butrica,ToSeetheUnseen:A

HistoryofPlanetaryRadarAstronomy(Washington,DC:NASAHistoryOffice,1996),8,publishedonlineaspublicationSP-4218,http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4218/sp4218.htm(accessedApril24,2008).SeealsoJohnH.DeWittJr.andE.K.Stodola,“DetectionofRadioSignalsReflectedfromtheMoon,”ProceedingsoftheI.R.E.37(March1949):229–42;andJamesH.Texler,“LunarRadioEchoes,”ProceedingsoftheI.R.E.46,no.1(January1958):286–92.34.ArecordingofNixon’sspeechcanbeheardatNASA’sHuman

SpaceFlightwebsite,http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/video/apollo/apollo11/html/lunar_activities.html(accessedFebruary10,2012).35.NewYorkTimes(July25,1969),quotedinDavidE.Nye,American

TechnologicalSublime(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,1994),250.36.NamJunePaik,“PreparingformyfirstentrytoU.S.A.Thisletterto

JohnCage...,”inNamJunePaik:Videa’n’Videology,1959–1973,editedbyJudsonRosebush(Syracuse,NY:EversonMuseumofArt,1974),n.p.SeealsoPaik’sinstallation,MoonistheOldestTV(1965–76).37.Lucier,“‘Thereareallthesethingshappening,’”Reflections,526.38.NicholasAlfrey,“Transmission,ReflectionandLoss:Katie

Paterson’sEarth-Moon-Earth(MoonlightSonataReflectedfromtheSurfaceoftheMoon),”inEarth-Moon-Earth,exhibitioncatalog(Nottingham:DjanoglyArtGallery,LakesideArtsCentre,2009).39.Oliveros,“EchoesfromtheMoon:Notes”;Forherdiscussionof

tapedelaytechniques,seePaulineOliveros,“TapeDelayTechniquesforKahn, Douglas. Earth Sound Earth Signal : Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts, University of California Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1337907.Created from yale-ebooks on 2020-02-23 06:09:57.

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http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4218/sp4218.htm

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/video/apollo/apollo11/html/lunar_activities.html

ElectronicMusicComposers,”inSoftwareforPeople:CollectedWritings,1963–1980(Baltimore:SmithPublications,1984),36–46.40.Oliveros,interview,April22,2006.

14.THOMASASHCRAFT1.ExhibitionnotestoThomasAshcraft,CUEArtFoundation,NewYork,

December9,2004–January29,2005.2.DavidDunn,“TheLiminalWorldsofThomasAshcraft,”unpublished

essay,courtesyofDunn.3.LouisGrachos,ed.,Ashcraft,exhibitioncatalog(SantaFe,NM:SITE

SantaFe,1998),n.p.4.VivianEndicottBarnett,“KandinskyandScience.TheIntroductionof

BiologicalImagesintheParisPeriod,”inKandinskyinParis,1934–1944(NewYork:SolomonR.GuggenheimMuseum,1985),61–87;MauraC.Flannery,“ImagesoftheCellinTwentieth-CenturyArtandScience,”Leonardo31,no.3(1998):195–204.5.ThomasAshcraft,correspondencewiththeauthor,May2009.6.SeethePapersofGroteReber,1910–99,NationalRadioAstronomy

ObservatoryArchives,www.nrao.edu/archives/Reber/reber.shtml(accessedJune1,2009).7.Ashcraft,correspondence,June2009.8.ThomasAshcraft,“JumperingWildElectricitiesfromOuterSpace,”

radiodocumentarycommissionedbyAetherFest1:FestivalofInternationalRadioArt,broadcastbyKUNM,Albuquerque/SantaFe,June26,2003.9.Adifferentmilitary,scientific,andamateurconfigurationoccurredon

November6,1957,whenCalvinGraf,livinginSanAntonio,Texas,recordedameteor“ping”lastingaboutaquarterofasecondthathadbeenscatteredbythesignaltransmittedfromSputnikII.HereportedthissinglepinginQST,theamateurjournaloftheAmericanRadioRelayLeague.CalvinR.Graf,“MeteorPingfromSputnikII,”QST42,no.3(March1958):47.GrafwouldunwittinglyinfluenceAmericanexperimentalmusicastheauthorofthebookListentoRadioEnergy,LightandSound(Indianapolis:HowardW.Sams&Co.,1978),whichAlvinLucierusedtofinallybuildasuccessfulVLFantennaforhispieceSferics.10.“Hey!UseMyNervousSystem,”interviewwithThomasAshcraft,


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SantaFeNewMexican(June27,2008):24.11.ThequotationsaretranscriptionsfromAshcraft’srecordingsofthe

radioscattered(reflected)offthespaceshuttle.12.PostingontheGooglegroupfortheSocietyofAmateurRadio

Astronomers,May4,2008,http://groups.google.com/group/sara-list.13.GerritL.Verschuur,TheInvisibleUniverse:TheStoryofRadio

Astronomy,2nded.(NewYork:Springer,2007),29.14.AshcraftWebsite,www.heliotown.com/CCA_Event.html(accessed

June12,2009).15.Ashcraft,correspondence,May2009.16.AshcraftWebsite,

www.heliotown.com/CCA_Experiments_Ashcraft.html(accessedJune12,2009).17.Ashcraft,“JumperingWildElectricitiesfromOuterSpace.”18.“Hey!UseMyNervousSystem,”interviewwithAshcraft.

15.BLACKSUN,BLACKRAIN1.HarryCrosby,“IClimbAlone,”inRevolutionoftheWord:ANew

GatheringofAmericanAvant-GardePoetry,1914–1945,editedbyJeromeRothenberg(NewYork:SeaburyPress,1974),126–27.2.MydeepappreciationfortheirassistancewiththissectiononKarl-

BirgerBlomdahlgoestoJesperOlsson,IngvarLocoNordin,ChristinaTobeck,LudwikLiszka,PelleSnickars,andtheSwedishNationalArchiveofRecordedSoundandMovingImages.3.LudwikLiszka,correspondencewiththeauthor,September–October

2009.4.Ibid.5.LiszkaandBlomdahlbecameclosefriends,withBlomdahlthe

godfathertoLiszka’syoungerson.6.BlomdahlworkedcloselywiththesoundtechnicianBerndt

Berndtson,specialeffectstechnicianBélaThinsz,andthecomposerandphotographerRalphLundsten.TheuseofdataasimageryinanaudiovisualrelationshipisaprecursortothecontemporaryworkofRyojiIkedaandothers.


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http://www.heliotown.com/CCA_Event.html

http://www.heliotown.com/CCA_Experiments_Ashcraft.html

7.QuotedinMattsRyingandKarl-BirgerBlomdahl,“Fågelstruparochrymderssvalg”(Birds’throatsandchasmsofspaces),RösteriRadio49(1966)(SwedishNationalRadioprogrammagazine),reprintedintheanthology“Facetter”avochomKarl-BirgerBlomdahl(Stockholm:P.A.Norstedt&Söner,1970),127.MythankstoChristinaTobeckforprovidingthistextandtoJesperOlssonforitstranslation.8.Liszka,correspondence,September–October2009.9.Johannesson’snovelwaspublishedinEnglishasTheGreat

Computer:AVision(London:VictorGollanz,1968).10.RuthK.Inglefield,“Karl-BirgerBlomdahl,”MusicalQuarterly58,

no.1(January1972):77.11.Semiconductor(RuthJarmanandJoeGerhardt),interviewwiththe

author,Berkeley,April2006.12.BrilliantNoise,

www.semiconductorfilms.com/root/Brilliant_Noise/BNoise.htm(accessedSeptember24,2009).13.JarmanandGerhardt,interview,April2006.14.SeeGregSiegel,“RadiatingEmergency:ThePerilsandPromiseof

theBroadcastSignalintheAtomicAge,”CommunicationandCritical/CulturalStudies8,no.3(September2011):286–306.15.“StatementbythePresidentAnnouncingtheUseoftheA-Bombat

Hiroshima”(August6,1945),HarryS.TrumanLibraryandMuseum,http://trumanlibrary.org/calendar/viewpapers.php?pid=100(accessedSeptember20,2012).16.Hiroshima-Nagasaki:APictorialRecordoftheAtomicDestruction

(Tokyo:Hiroshima-NagasakiPublishingCommittee,1978),66.17.PaulDeMarinis,“TheBoyMechanic—MechanicalPersonaeinthe

WorksofJimPomeroy,”inForaBurningWorldIsCometoDanceInane:EssaysbyandaboutJimPomeroy,editedbyTimothyDruckreyandNadineLemmon(NewYork:CriticalPress,1993),www.jim-pomeroy.org/demarinis.html(accessedMarch12,2003).18.ErkkiHuhtamo,“ExcavatingSounds:OntheArtofPaulDeMarinis,”

inExcavatedSounds:TheMediaArtofPaulDeMarinis,editedbyPäiviTalasmaa(Helsinki:OtsoGallery,2000),10–15;“T(h)inkeringwithMedia:TheArtofPaulDeMarinis,”inResonantMessages:MediaInstallationsbyPaulDeMarinis,exhibitioncatalog(Pasadena,CA:AlycedeRouletWilliamsonGallery,ArtCenterCollegeofDesign,2000),n.p.;“Thinkering


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http://trumanlibrary.org/calendar/viewpapers.php?pid=100

http://www.jim-pomeroy.org/demarinis.html

withMedia:OntheArtofPaulDeMarinis,”inPaulDeMarinis:BuriedinNoise,editedbyIngridBeireretal.(Berlin:KehrerVerlag,2010),33–46.19.PaulDeMarinis,statementonhisinstallationAnUnsettlingManner,

ArsElectronica,Linz,Austria,September1991.20.Ibid.21.“DopplerEffect—InformationDerivedfromIt,”track4,Voicesof

theSatellites,SmithsonianFolkwaysFW06200,1958,LP.22.PaulDeMarinis,notestoRometoTripoli(2006),inPaulDeMarinis:

BuriedinNoise,editedbyIngridBeireretal.(Berlin:KehrerVerlag,2010),182–85.23.FrantzFanon,“ThisIstheVoiceofAlgeria,”inADyingColonialism

(NewYork:GrovePress,1994),69–120.

16.STAR-STUDDEDCINEMA1.JohnTyndall,“LifeintheAlps”(1887),inNewFragments(New

York:D.AppletonandCo.,1898),307–8,alludingtoTennyson.2.RemarksofAlexanderGrahamBellonthepaperbyMr.W.H.Preece,

“ThePhotophoneandtheConversionofRadiantEnergyintosound,”readbeforetheSocietyofTelegraphEngineers,London,December8,1880,AlexanderGrahamBellFamilyPapers,LibraryofCongress,http://rs6.loc.gov(accessedSeptember15,2008).3.Ibid.4.AlexanderGrahamBell,“ApplicationofthePhotophonetotheStudy

oftheNoisesTakingPlaceontheSurfaceoftheSun,”Science1,no.25(December18,1880),304.5.KlausHentschel,MappingtheSpectrum:TechniquesofVisual

RepresentationinResearchandTeaching(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2002),102.6.SeeLaurentMannoni,TheGreatArtofLightandShadow:

ArchaeologyoftheCinema(Exeter:UniversityofExeterPress,2000),299–303.7.ThomasA.Watson,ExploringLife:TheAutobiographyofThomasA.

Watson(NewYork:D.AppletonandCompany,1926),80.8.Bell,“ApplicationofthePhotophonetotheStudyoftheNoisesTaking

PlaceontheSurfaceoftheSun,”304.Kahn, Douglas. Earth Sound Earth Signal : Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts, University of California Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1337907.Created from yale-ebooks on 2020-02-23 06:09:57.

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9.LindaDalrympleHenderson,DuchampinContext:ScienceandTechnologyintheLargeGlassandRelatedWorks(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1998).10.MarcelDuchamp,SaltSeller:TheEssentialWritingsofMarcel

Duchamp,editedbyMichelSanouilletandElmerPeterson(London:ThamesandHudson,1973),26.11.Ibid.,120.12.MasakiKobayashi,DaisukeKikuchi,andHitoshiOkamura,“Imaging

ofUltraweekSpontaneousPhotonEmissionfromHumanBodyDisplayingDiurnalRhythm,”PLoSONE4,no.7(2009):e6256,doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006256.13.QuotedinPierreJanet,“ThePsychologicalCharacteristicsof

Ecstasy,”inRaymondRoussel:Life,DeathandWorks,editedbyAlastairBrotchieetal.(London:AtlasPress,1987),40–41.14.Ibid.,39.15.MarcelDuchamp,Notes,editedandtranslatedbyPaulMatisse

(Boston:ExactChange,2003).16.FrancesDyson,“CircuitsoftheVoice:FromCosmologyto

Telephony,”Musicworks,no.53(Summer1992):5–15.17.TheWritingsofMarcelDuchamp(NewYork:DaCapoPress,

1989),26.TheJura–ParisroadnotesareextensivelydiscussedinHenderson,DuchampinContext,37–39.18.CamilleFlammarion,quotedinBrianMackrell,Halley’sCometover

NewZealand(Auckland:ReedMethuen,1985),124.Seealso,“Comet’sPoisonousTail:YerkesObservatoryFindsCyanogeninSpectrumofHalley’sComet,NewYorkTimes(February8,1910):1.19.RichardWhittaker,“GreetingtheLight:AnInterviewwithJames

Turrell,”Works+Conversations,no.2:n.p.,www.conversations.org/99–1-turrell.htm(accessedNovember7,2003).20.RolandBarthes,“UponLeavingtheMovieTheatre,”inApparatus:

CinematographicApparatus:SelectedWritings,editedbyTheresaHakKyungCha(NewYork:TanamPress,1980),1–4(2).21.AnthonyMcCall,“LineDescribingaConeandRelatedFilms,”

October103(Winter2003):43.22.Ibid.


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23.Forspotlights,fromblindinglanternstoanti-aircraftsearchlights,seeFriedrichKittler,“AShortHistoryoftheSpotlight,”inLightArtfromArtificialLight,editedbyGregorJansenandPeterWeibel(Ostfildern,Germany:HatjeCantz,2006),76–84.24.CraigAdcock,JamesTurrell:TheArtofLightandSpace(Berkeley:

UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1990),6.25.Ibid.,1.26.RobertMorris,“TheArtofExistence:ThreeExtra-VisualArtists:

WorksinProgress,”Artforum9,no.5(January1971):28–33(30).Morris’sstatementonTraub/Turrellbegins,“Afterhavingworkedwithhigh-frequencysoundperceptioninanechoicchambersforsometwoyears”(30).HeisreferringtoTurrell’scollaborationwithRobertIrwinandEdWortzduringtheArtandTechnologyProgramorganizedbyMauriceTuchmanfortheLosAngelesCountyMuseumofArt.OnanechoicperceptionandTurrell’srelationshiptoJohnCage,seemy“LetMeHearMyBodyTalk,MyBodyTalk,”inRe:Live—NewDirectionsinMediaArtHistories,editedbySeanCubittandPaulThomas(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,forthcoming).27.JamesTurrell,interviewwithEsaLaaksonen,Blacksburg,VA,1996,

reprintedinARK:TheFinnishArchitecturalReview,http://home.sprynet.com/˜mindweb/page44.htm(accessedNovember11,2003).28.JamesTurrellinterviewinRichardAndrewsandChrisBruce,James

Turrell:SensingSpace(Seattle:HenryArtGallery,UniversityofWashington,1992),47–48.29.AlisonSarahJacques,“Thereneverisnolight...evenwhenallthe

lightisgone,youcanstillsenselight:InterviewwithJamesTurrell,”JamesTurrell:PerceptualCells,editedbyJiriSvestka(Stuttgart:EditionCantz,1992),61–63.30.AndrewsandBruce,JamesTurrell:SensingSpace,48.31.Ibid.32.Whittaker,“GreetingtheLight:AnInterviewwithJamesTurrell,”

n.p.33.Turrell,interviewwithLaaksonen,1996.34.Adcock,JamesTurrell,176.35.Ibid.,178.


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17.ROBERTBARRY1.JohnCage,EmptyWords(Middletown,CT:WesleyanUniversity

Press,1979),179.2.JohnCageandDanielCharles,FortheBirds(NewYork:Marion

Boyars,1981),220–21.3.MikhailLarionov,“RayonistPainting”(1913),inRussianArtofthe

Avant-Garde:TheoryandCriticism,1902–1934,editedbyJohnE.Bowlt(NewYork:Viking,1976),91–100(98).“Wedonotsensetheobjectwithoureye,asitisdepictedconventionallyinpicturesandasaresultoffollowingthisorthatdevice;infact,wedonotsensetheobjectassuch.Weperceiveasumofraysproceedingfromasourceoflight;thesearereflectedfromtheobjectandenterourfieldofvision”(98).4.UrsulaMeyer,“ConversationwithRobertBarry,12October1969,”

inConceptualArt(NewYork:E.P.Dutton,1972),36–38(38).5.January5–31,1969,exhibitioncatalog,curatedbySethSiegelaub

(NewYork:Self-published),n.p.Theshowincludedthreeotherartists:DouglasHuebler,JosephKosuth,andLawrenceWeiner.6.Ibid.7.RaimundasMalasauskas,“‘Youneverknowwhereitgoes’:Interview

withRobertBarry(March3,2003),”newspaper,no.36(March–April2003),www.janmot.com/newspaper/barry_monk.php(accessedJune5,2005).8.January5–31,1969,n.p.9.ViusH.Weh,“ConversationwithRobertBarry,”

KünstlerInnenporträts28,MuseuminProgress,www.mip.at/attachments/180(accessedMarch24,2008).ThepowerfulmaskingofMoscowRadiotransmissionswithoutmodulation/informationwasdifferentthanRichardFeynman’sacknowledgmentofthe“informationfromMoscowRadiothat’sbeingbroadcastedatthepresentmoment,”mentionedinthisbook’sintroduction.10.BuckminsterFuller,forewordtoProjections:Anti-materialism,

exhibitioncatalog(LaJolla,CA:LaJollaMuseumofArt,1970),n.p.,quotedinLucyLippard,SixYears:TheDematerializationoftheArtObjectfrom1966to1972(NewYork:Praeger,1973),165.InthesameforewordFulleralsostated,“Today’sepochalaestheticisconcernedalmostexclusivelywiththeinvisible,intellectualintegritymanifestbytheexplorersandformulatorsoperatingwithinthesensoriallyunreachable,


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yetvast,rangesoftheelectro,chemicalandmathematicalrealmsofthephysicalandmetaphysicalrealities”(n.p.).11.SusanSontag,AgainstInterpretationandOtherEssays(NewYork:

Picador,2001),301–2.12.“RobertBarry:May30,1969,”inRecordingConceptualArt:Early

InterviewswithBarry,Huebler,Kaltenbach,LeWitt,Morris,Oppenheim,Siegelaub,SmithsonandWeinerbyPatriciaNorvell,editedbyAlexanderAlberroandPatriciaNorvell(Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,2011),89.13.LucyLippardandJohnChandler,“TheDematerializationofArt”

(1967),ArtInternational12,no.2(February1968):31–36,reprintedinConceptualArt:ACriticalAnthology,editedbyAlexanderAlberroandBlakeStimson(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,1999),46–50.14.Lippard,SixYears:TheDematerializationoftheArtObject.15.TerryAtkinson,“ConcerningtheArticle‘TheDematerializationof

Art,’”(March23,1968),reprintedinAlberroandStimson,ConceptualArt,52–58.16.“RobertBarry:May30,1969,”inAlberroandNorvell,Recording

ConceptualArt,89.17.Ibid,90.18.“FourInterviewswithArthurRose,”Arts(February1969),quoted

inLippard,SixYears:TheDematerializationoftheArtwork,71–72.“ArthurRose”wasafictitiouspersonwhocollaboratedintheself-interviewsofconceptualartists.Intherealmofradio,LuxembourginvokestheLuxembourgeffect,atermforthepropensityofthepowerfultransmissionsofRadioLuxembourgtointeractwiththeionosphere,cross-modulatewithotherfrequencies,andsupplantdistantweakerstationswithitssignal.SeealsoRobertBarry,“UntitledStatement,”inArtPovera,byGermanoCelant(NewYork:Praeger,1969),115,reprintedinTheoriesandDocumentsofContemporaryArt,editedbyKristineStilesandPeterSelz(Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1996),839.19.Meyer,“ConversationwithRobertBarry,12October1969,”37.20.RobertBarry,“UltrasonicWavePiece,”inSoftware—Information

Technology:ItsNewMeaningforArt,editedbyJudithRootBurnham(NewYork:JewishMuseum,1970),29–30.21.Meyer,“ConversationwithRobertBarry,12October1969,”36–38.

Barrysourcedthebarium-133fromastoreusedbyuniversityscienceKahn, Douglas. Earth Sound Earth Signal : Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts, University of California Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/yale-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1337907.Created from yale-ebooks on 2020-02-23 06:09:57.

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labs;thelowlevelofradioactivityinthesmallamountusedposednorisktousersofthepark.22.LippardandChandler,“TheDematerializationofArt”(1967),46–50

(50).23.Meyer,“ConversationwithRobertBarry,12October1969,”39.24.“RobertBarry:May30,1969,”inAlberroandNorvell,Recording

ConceptualArt,90.ItisunclearwhetherJackBurnhamhadBarryinmindwhenhewrotethat“conceptualart’sidealmediumistelepathy.”JackBurnham,“Alice’sHead:ReflectionsonConceptualArt,”reprintedinAlberroandStimson,ConceptualArt,215.

18.COLLABORATINGOBJECTSRADIATINGENVIRONMENTS1.UrsulaMeyer,“ConversationwithRobertBarry,12October1969,”

inConceptualArt(NewYork:E.P.Dutton,1972),36–38(37).2.HughG.J.Aitken,SyntonyandSpark:TheOriginsofRadio(New

York:JohnWileyandSons,1976),68.3.AlfredA.Ghirardi,ModernRadioServicing(NewYork:MurrayHill,

1935),1076.4.Ibid.,1063.5.Ibid.,1065–69.6.LetterfromSirErnestFisk,directorofeconomiccoordination,to

W.M.Hughes,attorneygeneral,July31,1940,StateLibraryofNewSouthWales,Sydney,Australia.7.USSenate,EmergencyControlofElectromagneticRadiating

Devices,HearingsBeforetheCommitteeonInterstateandForeignCommerce,82ndCongress,1stSessiononS.537:ABilltoProvidefortheGreaterSecurityandDefenseoftheUnitedStatesagainstAttack(February21and22,1951),11.ForadiscussionofthisdocumentinrelationtoCONELRAD,seeGregSiegel,“RadiatingEmergency:ThePerilsandPromiseoftheBroadcastSignalintheAtomicAge,”CommunicationandCritical/CulturalStudies8,no.3(September2011):286–306.8.USSenate,EmergencyControlofElectromagneticRadiating

Devices,9.9.Ibid.,8.10.Ibid.,9.


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11.Ibid.12.Ibid.,12.13.Ibid.,12–17.14.Ibid.,17.15.Ibid.16.Ibid.,18.17.Ibid.,10.18.Ibid.,15.19.Ibid.20.HenryAdams,“TheDynamoandtheVirgin,”inTheEducationof

HenryAdams:AnAutobiography(Boston:HoughtonMifflin,1918),379–90(380).21.Ibid.,380.22.Ibid.,381–82.23.Ibid.,381.24.Ibid.25.ThomasA.Watson,ExploringLife:TheAutobiographyofThomas

A.Watson(NewYork:D.AppletonandCompany,1926),80–82(82).

19.JOYCEHINTERDING1.RobertIrwin,interviewwiththeauthor,SanDiego,July19,2004.2.DouglasKahn,“AMusicalTechnographyofJohnBischoff,”Leonardo

MusicJournal14(2004):77.BischoffwasparticularlyinfluencedinthisregardbythemusicandthinkingofDavidTudor,withwhomheworked.ForadiscussionoftheartsandmusicofmicrocomputingatMillsCollegeandintheSanFranciscoBayArea,seemy“BetweenaBachandaBardPlace:ProductiveConstraintinEarlyComputerArts,”MediaArtsHistory,editedbyOliverGrau(Cambridge,MA:MITPress,2007),423–52.3.ShintaroMiyazaki,“Algorhythmics:UnderstandingMicro-

TemporalityinComputationalCultures,”ComputationalCulture,no.2(September12,2012),http://computationalculture.net/article/algorhythmics-understanding-micro-temporality-in-computational-cultures(accessedMay1,2013).


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http://computationalculture.net/article/algorhythmics-understanding-micro-temporality-in-computational-cultures

4.TheBinaryAutomaticComputer,orBINAC,wasanearlyelectroniccomputerproducedin1949bytheEckert-MauchlyComputerCorporationfortheNorthropAircraftCompany.5.UNIVACConference,oralhistory(OH200)conductedMay17–18,

1990,byCharlesBabbageInstitute,UniversityofMinnesota,Minneapolis,http://purl.umn.edu/104288(accessedNovember14,2012),quotedinMiyazaki,“Algorhythmics.”IntheUNIVACConferenceoralhistory,AlbertTonik,aprogrammerworkingonUNIVACin1949,remembersthemaintenancecrewputtingaprograminthecomputer,and“itwouldgogrrrrroooo,rrrrroooooo.Youknow,theloudspeakerwouldallowyoutohearwhatwasgoingon.”AsPaulDoornbuschhaswritten,soundfromaloudspeaker(hooter)“wascommonlyusedforwarnings,oftentosignifytheendoftheprogramandsometimesasadebuggingaid.Withmanyoftheearliestcomputers,owingtothelackofvisualfeedback(therewasnodisplayasiscustomarytoday),itwascommontoincludea‘hoot’instructionattheendofaprogramtosignalthatithadended,orelsewhereifasignalwasneededfortheoperator.”PaulDoornbusch,“ComputerSoundSynthesisin1951:TheMusicofCSIRAC,”ComputerMusicJournal28,no.1(Spring2004):10–25(12).TheearlyoperatorsoftheCSIRMk1mainframecomputertookthesetonesandshapedthemintofamiliarsongs.Asimilarthinghappenedinearlymicrocomputingwhen,in1975,SteveDompierheardthecomputerprogramonhisAltair8800ashewaslisteningtoaweatherbroadcastonhistransistorradio.Aftertestinganumberofprogramsfortheirsound-producingcapabilities,hewasabletoreconstructthemelodyof“TheFoolontheHill”bytheBeatles.SeeStevenLevy,Hackers:HeroesoftheComputerRevolution(NewYork:Penguin,1994),204–5.6.Onrhythmanalysis,seethechapterofthesamenameinGaston

Bachelard,TheDialecticofDuration(Manchester,UK:ClinamenPress,2000),136–55;andHenriLefebvre,Rhythmanalysis:Space,TimeandEverydayLife(London:Continuum,2004).Seealsotheartists’Detektorsprojectwebsite,http://detektors.org(accessedNovember14,2012);andMartinHowseandShintaroMiyazaki,“Detektors:RhythmsofElectromagneticEmissions,theirPsychogeophysicsandMicrologicalAuscultation,”Proceedingsofthe16thInternationalSymposiumonElectronicArtISEA2010RUHR(Berlin:Revolver,2010),136–38.7.PeterBlamey,linernotesforForage,AvantWhatever,Whatever011,

2012,CD.ThetermforagepertainsequallytothewayBlameyscavengespartsfromtherubbishandthewaythatsignalsseekouttheirpathsofconductivityonthemicroterrainofthemotherboard.


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http://purl.umn.edu/104288

http://detektors.org

8.EarlyworksbyKubischincludeÉcouterlesmurs(1981),Ilrespiredelmare(1981),andMurmuresensous-sol(1982).SeeChristinaKubisch,KlangRaumLichtZeit:Arbeitenvon1980bis2000(Heidelberg:KehrerVerlag,2000).AconceptualuseofinductionloopsandreceiverscanbefoundinLoop(1967),byArt&LanguagemembersDavidBainbridgeandHaroldHurrell;thesetupservedasanearlierarmatureforthemorerhetoricallyelaborateLecherSystem(1970),basedonalate-nineteenth-centuryHertziansparkgapdevice,forwhichBainbridgeandHurrellwerejoinedbyTerryAtkinsonandMichaelBaldwin.9.ChristophCox,“InvisibleCities:AnInterviewwithChristina

Kubisch,”Cabinet,no.21(Spring2006),www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/21/cox.php(accessedMay1,2013).10.Ina1972KPFAradiobroadcast,Zahuranecsetup

personal/botanicalinteractionswithaphilodendron.SeetheRadioOtherMindsarchive,http://radiom.org/detail.php?omid=RE.1972.10.18(accessedMay1,2013).ThiswasthetypeofplantsentiencepopularizedinthebookTheSecretLifeofPlants(1973);walkingdownthesamemysticalgardenpathmuchearlierwasthefounderofmodernexperimentalpsychology,GustavFechner,andhisbookonthesoul-lifeofplants,NannaoderüberdasSeelenlebenderPflanzen(1848).Hiswritings,aswehaveseen,wereimportanttoThomasWatson.11.JimHorton,TheHistoryofExperimentalMusicinNorthern

California,www.mcs.csueastbay.edu/∼tebo/history/LongDur/JimHorton/jh-music1.html(accessedMay1,2013).12.JoyceHinterding,interviewwithJosephineBosma,Amsterdam,

August24,1998,www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9808/msg00074.html(accessedMay1,2013).Withrespecttoantennas,earlyinthesecondhalfofthetwentiethcenturytheGreekartistTakiscreatedhisSignaux,resemblingantennas,muchastheartistswhoaddressedelectromagnetismthroughrepresentationalmeansintheearlypartofthecentury.Theseobjectswerethematicratherthanoperative,andmanyvisualartistsincorporatedradios-as-deviceswithintheirworks,asdidJeanTinguelyandRobertRauschenberg.OnTakis,seeMelissaWarak,“MadetoMusic:InteractionsofMusicandArt,1955–1969”(PhDdissertation,UniversityofTexasatAustin,2013).13.Goethe,“VersucheingerWitterrungslehre”(1825),quotedin

ChristophAsendorf,BatteriesofLife:OntheHistoryofThingsandTheirPerceptioninModernity,chapter11,“NervesandElectricity,”153–77(153)(Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1993).


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http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/21/cox.php

http://radiom.org/detail.php?omid=RE.1972.10.18

http://www.mcs.csueastbay.edu/~tebo/history/LongDur/JimHorton/jh-music1.html

http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9808/msg00074.html

14.Ibid.,153.15.Hinterding,interviewwithBosma,August24,1998.16.Ibid.17.TomFox,“Buildthe‘Whistler’VLFReceiver,”PopularElectronics:

ElectronicsHobbyistHandbook(July1989):107–11.18.Ibid.,107.19.S.W.Robinson,“RingingFences,”Science2,no.75(December3,

1881):573.TheprofessorfromOhioStateUniversitywrote,“Thissketchismainlyofasimplefactofobservation.Myattentionwasonedaysuddenlyarrestedwhilewalkingonahardroadalongsideapicketfencebythepeculiarityofthesoundwhichreachedmyearimmediatelyfollowingeachstep.Thissoundwasfirstnoticedtobeverydifferentfromthatperceivedatotherpartsofthesidewalk...whenoppositeapicketfencethenoisefollowingeachfootstepwasprolongedintoacuriousmusicaltoneofinitialhighbutrapidlyloweringpitch,andwithadurationofperhapsaquarterofasecond”(573).Similarphenomenawereobservedwith“stairs,underproperconditions,”including“thestepsinfrontoftheStateHouseatColumbus,O”(573).20.GeneFowlerandBillCrawford,BorderRadio:Quacks,Yodelers,

Pitchmen,PsychicsandOtherAmazingBroadcastersoftheAmericanAirwaves(Austin:TexasMonthlyPress,1987),34.21.CharlesK.Wolfe,ClassicCountry:LegendsofCountryMusic(New

York:Routledge,2001),10.22.AlanKrell,TheDevil’sRope:ACulturalHistoryofBarbedWire

(London:ReaktionBooks,2002),88–89.23.AlvinLucier,“‘Thereareallthesethingshappening’:Thoughtson

Installations,”inReflections:Interviews,Scores,Writings(Cologne:EditionMusikTexte,1995),526.24.SeeHollisTaylor,PostImpressions:ATravelBookforTragic

Intellectuals(Portland,OR:TwistedFiddle,2007).25.Ibid.26.JoyceHinterding,interviewwiththeauthor,Riga,Latvia,August27,

2006.27.Ibid.28.Ibid.


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29.HinterdingcountsWalterDeMaria’sLightningFieldasoneofherfewinfluencesor,rather,licenses.ThemostimportantprecursorforenergeticsinAustraliawastheworkofthepoetandartistJoanBrassil.SeeRitaJoanBrassil,“ThePoeticVision,”thesisforadoctorateofcreativearts,SchoolofCreativeArts,UniversityofWollongong,1991.HinterdinghasfoundartisticlicenseforopennesstoenergiesintheworkofJohnCage,R.MurraySchafer,AlvinLucier,andJosephBeuys.Theconnectionwithsoundamongthesecomposersisself-evident.Beuys’sidentificationwithenergyisvaried:hisFondsarestackedlikevoltaicpiles,alternatingmateriallayersinabattery,athemethathemadeexplicitinFatBattery(1963),withitsassociationsofmetabolicbioticenergies(fat,likefossilfuels,isanenergystoragesubstrate),andtrenchwarfaretransmissions;thesameholdsforhisCapriBattery(1985),withitsschoolscienceprojectuseofalemonasapowersource.“Beuys’Capri-Batterieisastreamlinedmetaphorforcivilization’secologicalbalance.Itshowsaninterdependencebetweenartificeandsubstance,technologicalartifactsandorganicentities.Thetermsitprovidesdemonstratethefusionofculturewithnature,culturebecomenature,natureasfuelsource.Thelightbulbdoesn’texhaustitselfbecauseitnevergoeson,butthelemon‘battery’requiresperiodicreplacementwhenitshrivelsup.Thesymbiosisofthetwoelementsisfalse,inapracticalsense,andtrue,inanartisticone.”GaryIndiana,VillageVoice(November12,1985),quotedinJosephBeuys:TheMultiples;CatalogueRaisonnéofMultiplesandPrints,editedbyJörgSchellmann(Munich:EditionSchellmann,1997),499.Intermsoftheearthcircuitsandtelephoniccurrents,Beuys’sErdtelephon(Earthtelephone,1967)isparticularlyrelevant.AsBeuysstates,“Thecommunicationcanstillbemadebutthereisalsoalumpofearththere.That’smoreofadeclarationaboutthenatureofelectricity:thefactthatitisaphenomenonthatrunsundergroundandhasaltogetheranenergyqualitythatonecouldcharacterizewithaminussign.”JosephBeuys,interviewedJune1977,inSchellmann,JosephBeuys:TheMultiples,n.p.SeealsoDierkStemmler,“OntheMultiplesofJosephBeuys,”inSchellmann,JosephBeuys:TheMultiples,512.30.JoyceHinterding,quotedinCatherineLumby,“JoyceHinterding:

SystemicMurmurs,”Art+Text,no.46(September1993):48–53(49).31.Hinterding,interviewwiththeauthor,August27,2006.32.Ibid.33.Ibid.34.Hinterding,interviewwithBosma,August24,1998.


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35.ForrestM.MimsIII,GettingStartedinElectronics(FortWorth,TX:RadioShack,1984),28.36.Ibid.37.Hinterding,interviewwithBosma,August24,1998.38.HenryFoxTalbot,“SomeAccountoftheArtofPhotogenic

Drawing,”PhilosophicalMagazine,series3,vol.14,no.88(1839):196–211(206).SeealsoHenryFoxTalbot,ThePencilofNature(London:Longman,Brown,GreenandLongmans,1844);andLadyElizabethEastlake,“Photography,”LondonQuarterlyReview(April1857):442–68.39.HenryDavidThoreau,journalentry,February18,1851,Journal:

Volume3;1848–1851(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1990),196.ThismineralistapproachtomediamaterialismisbeautifullyrealizedintheworksofDoveBradshaw,forexample,RadioRocks(1999).40.SeeSeanRossMeehan,“ThePencilofNature:Thoreau’s

PhotographicRegister,”Criticism48,no.1(2006):7–38.41.RobertM.Brain,“RepresentationontheLine:GraphicRecording

InstrumentsandScientificModernism,”inFromEnergytoInformation:RepresentationinScienceandTechnology,Art,andLiterature,editedbyBruceClarkeandLindaDalrympleHenderson(Stanford,CA:StanfordUniversityPress,2002),155–77.42.ThomasA.Edison,ThePapersofThomasA.Edison:TheWizardof

MenloPark,vol.4(1878),editedbyPaulB.Israeletal.(Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress,1998),111–15.43.JoyceHinterding,“TheOscillators,”LeonardoMusicJournal6

(December1996):113–14.44.Usingatwo-meter-squarevinylstencil,Hinterdingappliedthe

colloidalgraphite(Aquadag)directlyontothewallandthenremovedthestencil.ThespiralisfromademonstrationfromWolfram’sMathematicasoftware,“SquareSpiralforaGivenNumberofDivisors.”ThespeakerisaHolosonics“audiospotlight.”

20.EARTH-IN-CIRCUIT1.J.J.Fahie,“DiscoveryoftheEarthCircuit,”inAHistoryofElectric

TelegraphytotheYear1837(London:E.&F.N.Spon,1884),343–48(343).Iamusing“complete”insteadof“closed”forhowtheearthisin-circuit,opentootherinfluences.


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2.HermannvonHelmholtz,“TheRecentProgressoftheTheoryofVision,”inScienceandCulture:PopularandPhilosophicalEssays(Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,1995),150.3.HerbertN.Casson,TheHistoryoftheTelephone(Chicago:A.C.

McClurg&Co.,1910),120–22.ThiswasnottheonlyinstanceofcomparingaNativeAmericanlanguagetonoise;theironyinthisinstanceisthatChoctaw“codetalkers”wereusedbytheUnitedStatesinWorldWarIasasecure“noise”inmilitarycommunications.4.Chen-PangYeang,“CharacterizingRadioChannels:TheScienceand

TechnologyofPropagationandInterference,1900–1935”(PhDdissertation,historyandsocialstudyofscienceandtechnology,MIT,2004),26.5.Aswithionosphericreflection,radiosignalswerebouncedoffthe

moon,offtheionizedtrailsofmeteors,offauroras,andtocompletethecircuit,throughanauroraoffthemoon.SeeR.P.Ingalls,J.C.James,andM.L.Stone,“AStudyofUHFSpaceCommunicationsthroughanAuroraUsingtheMoonasaReflector,”PlanetaryandSpaceScience7(July1961):272–85.Theionosphereitselfwasheateduptoreradiate“stimulatedelectromagneticemissions,”andtheuseofentireislandsasVLFandELFtransmittingantennaswasentertained.SeeP.Stubbe,H.Kopka,etal.,“IonosphericModificationExperimentsinNorthernScandinavia,”JournalofAtmosphericandTerrestrialPhysics44,no.12(1982):1025–41.WehavealreadyseentheearthspeechdevicethatwasusedinWorldWarI;in1904,GeorgeO.Squier,bestknownforhisroleintheindustrialmusicofMuzak,submittedapatentforusingtreesasantennasinwirelesscommunication.6.RogerPayneandDouglasWebb,“OrientationbyMeansofLong

RangeAcousticSignallingBaleenWhales,”AnnalsoftheNewYorkAcademyofSciences188(December1971):110–41(110).7.WolfgangSchivelbusch,“RailroadSpaceandRailroadTime,”New

GermanCritique,no.14(Spring1978):31–40.8.Ibid.,38.9.“TheJubileeoftheElectricTelegraph,”Nature36(August4,1887):

326–29.10.DavidHarvey,TheConditionofPostmodernity(Cambridge:

Blackwell,1990).Indeed,forthesecondhalfofthenineteenthcenturyitwasclearamongmanywritingsintechnicaljournalsandpopularpublicationsalikethatthetelegraphcouldmaketheworldasmallerplace,


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andthatplacewouldbecalledtheBritishEmpire.11.“TheTelegraph,”Harper’sNewMonthlyMagazine47,no.279

(June–November1873):359.12.UrsulaK.Heise,SenseofPlaceandSenseofPlanet:The

EnvironmentalImaginationoftheGlobal(Cambridge:OxfordUniversityPress,2008).


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