English

The History of Concordia University’s Electroacoustic Program and Concert Series

Interview with Kevin Austin

by Ian Chuprun

In Kevin Austin’s Montréal-West home, 31 October 2001.

01. Warming Up [dur. 2:13]

02. A Quick Overview… [2:21]

03. Education in Québec. Concordia University. MetaMusic. Concordia Soundwalks. [24:19]

“The history of electroacoustics at Concordia is similar to the history of electroacoustics in many Canadian and North American universities.”
“In 1970, the education system in Québec was in the process of changing.”
“Phil Cohen started the Music Section of the Department of Fine Arts at the Sir George Williams University in 1969.”
“In 1970, I began co-teaching two courses at Sir George Williams University at the CÉGEP level.”
As a student in 1970, Martin Gotfrit expresses interest in electronic music.
Informal weekly meetings of four or five people develops into the live electronic improvisation ensemble, MetaMusic (“the sound of three hands clapping”).
MetaMusic begins giving 6–10 concerts a year.
Purchase of a Synthi AKS for the department.
8 channels of sound.
About 1973/74 MetaMusic bought 10 Altec speakers and quad amplifiers.
In 1976 Sir George Williams University and Loyola College merge to become Concordia University; the beginnings of acquiring equipment at Concordia.
“With the move to Loyola… the studio began to have a physical presence in the department.”
Daniel Feist sells his clarinet and jumps into electroacoustics.
“In the early to mid-1970s [Barbara Keats] approached me from CAMMAC [Canadian Amateur Musicians Musiciens Amateurs du Canada] … and asked if there was something [that could be done] with electronic music and CAMMAC.” Austin proposes soundwalks; one or two are given per year from 1973–78.

04. CECG/GEC. ACREQ. The Montréal Community. Founding of the CEC. [14:35]

“By about the late 70s, MetaMusic had transformed itself. Most of the founding members had moved on to other things.”
MetaMusic becomes CECG/GEC — Concordia Electroacoustic Composers’ Group / Groupe électroacoustique de Concordia.
Live electronic improvisation and some fixed pieces in concert. Beginnings of the tape collection.
First tape concert at Concordia. Making programs for concerts: the original cut-and-paste method.
Ideas are cheap, but people “get things done”: as a student Jean-François Denis organises a concert in a CÉGEP to introduce more people to electroacoustics.
Keyboard synthesizers become more available and popular, but Concordia studio ARIES modular synthesizer allows for control of sound independent of pitch.
ACREQ is founded and gives concerts downtown. The “popularization” of electroacoustics. The Montréal community is defined by a politically non-aligned diversity and “mutual respect and cross-fertilization”.
Much activity in Montréal through the 1980s: 5 institutions offered courses in electroacoustics.
Concordia’s programme has always been inclusive, with many students from outside of the music department working in the studios.
In 1984 Austin and Denis discuss the need for a national organization.
The CECG/GEC Newsletter is the means by which the electroacoustic community in Canada is brought together as the national association Canadian Electroacoustic Community is formed.

05. The Concordia Program [9:27]

“The Concordia situation was that 85% of the students in the studios were non-music students.”
The “sss” assignment introduces the student to editing, phonetics and sound as sound.
“By the mid-1980s, it began to look like we had enough money and enough students to have a second-year course.”
Jean-François Denis returns from Mills College to teach electroacoustics at Concordia.
The CECG/GEC Tape collection, and other collections in Canada. Denis catalogues the Concordia collection. Austin subsequently documents other collections: University of Toronto EMS; McGill University EMS; Polish Radio.

06. Concordia, Concert Series Developments, Early Years of the CEC [12:34]

CECG/GEC changes its name to EuCuE with the founding of the CEC.
Ned Bouhalassa jumps into electroacoustics. Mark Corwin starts the Recording programme. Bouhalassa and Laurie Radford teach at Concordia.
Ian Chuprun returns from Birmingham. Rosemary Mountain teaches at Concordia.
What actually happened to the concerts after the the mid-1980s. EuCuE moves into the new Concordia Concert Hall, with multi-speaker concerts now possible. Experimentation with speaker set-ups over 4–5 years of 6–10 concerts a year.
Outdoor concerts of 4–5 hours each. (Bring your own hotdogs!) Live electronic improvisation as well as tape pieces and other activities including knitting wool, for example. Multi-media pieces.
In the early 1990s, Austin leaves teaching for a period.
Writing the CEC Bylaws (Austin and Denis) over a period of about two years. The CEC gradually grows from being seen as a Concordia-based venture to being recognized internationally.

07. A Bit More About the Concordia Soundwalks [7:18]

The Vancouver Soundscape.
Eric Brown and live soundscaping of a train arriving in and leaving a Montréal station using several sets of recording equipment.
Soundscaping the 13 floors of the Concordia Hall Building.

08. Where the ARIES Analog Modular Synthesizer Came From [1:32]

09. A Bit More About MetaMusic [6:23]

Concerts and audience.
Audience participation concerts accompanied by pre-concert buffet. Audience playing along with a recording of Beethoven’s Third Symphony from 1941 (42?), with the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Furtwangler.

eContact!