Daphne Oram
- Bloomsbury, Holborn, Mount Pleasant, High Holborn, Russell Square, King's Cross, St Pancras (GB)
Daphne Blake Oram (31 December 1925 – 5 January 2003) was a British composer and electronic musician. She was one of the first British composers to produce electronic sound, and was an early practitioner of musique concrète in the UK. As a co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, she was central to the development of British electronic music.Her uncredited scoring work on the 1961 film The Innocents helped to pioneer the electronic soundtrack. Oram was the creator of the Oramics technique for graphical sound. She was the first woman to independently direct and set up a personal electronic music studio, and the first woman to design and construct an electronic musical instrument.In her book An Individual Note of Music, Sound and Electronics (1971) she explored philosophical themes related to acoustics and electronic composition.
Methods
Oramics
Oramics is a drawn sound technique designed in 1957 by musician Daphne Oram. The machine was further developed in 1962 after receiving a grant from the Gulbenkian Foundation. The technique involves drawing on 35mm film strips to control the sound produced. Oramics was also the name used by Oram to refer to her studio and business interests generally.
Oram's composition machine consisted of a large rectangular metal frame, providing a table-like surface traversed by ten synchronised strips of clear, sprocketed 35mm film. The musician drew shapes on the film to create a mask, which modulated the light received by photocells. Although the output from the machine was monophonic, the sounds could be added to multitrack tapes to provide more texture and create polyphony.
The original machine was exhibited at the Science Museum in London between 2011 and 2015.
The Oramics Machine
Oram’s ‘drawn sound’ synthesis and sequencing system
The Oramics Machine enabled Oram to synthesise and sequence sound by painting lines and other marks on glass and film strip. Oram invented it as a new means of musical expression, one that enabled her to finely control and vary sounds in ways that went beyond the capabilities of audio tape. The story of Oramics is told here by composer and instrument builder Tom Richards. Tom also outlines his own work building a Mini-Oramics machine from Oram’s original notes and drawings.
An independent studio – and a working prototype
As the BBC Radiophonic workshop was formed in 1958, with Daphne Oram and Desmond Briscoe at the helm, it became apparent to Oram that the BBC would not support her drawn sound research. Oram also was aggrieved about the lack of credit she received for her electronic sound works, and so in 1959 she decided to leave the BBC and form her own electronic music studio in order to pursue her research independently.
Tape splicing
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The original machine was exhibited at the Science Museum in London between 2011 and 2015.
The Oramics Machine
Oram’s ‘drawn sound’ synthesis and sequencing system
The Oramics Machine enabled Oram to synthesise and sequence sound by painting lines and other marks on glass and film strip. Oram invented it as a new means of musical expression, one that enabled her to finely control and vary sounds in ways that went beyond the capabilities of audio tape. The story of Oramics is told here by composer and instrument builder Tom Richards. Tom also outlines his own work building a Mini-Oramics machine from Oram’s original notes and drawings.
More Work to do
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Karli
Heute ist der 23. Mai