{"id":1318,"date":"2013-04-14T18:56:15","date_gmt":"2013-04-14T22:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=1318"},"modified":"2019-09-12T17:30:37","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T21:30:37","slug":"happy-80-morton-subotnick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2013\/04\/happy-80-morton-subotnick.html","title":{"rendered":"Happy 80, Morton Subotnick!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1319\" style=\"width: 269px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/mort.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1319\" class=\"wp-image-1319 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/mort.jpeg\" alt=\"mort\" width=\"259\" height=\"194\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1319\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">from MortonSubotnick.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Today &#8212; April 14 &#8212; \u00c2\u00a0is the 80th birthday of one of America&#8217;s greatest musical game-changers, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mortonsubotnick.com\/\">Morton Subotnick<\/a>, the man who:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>co-founded the San Francisco Tape Music Center;<\/li>\n<li>envisioned and developed the electronic synthesizer as a tabletop orchestral palette;<\/li>\n<li>created <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Morton-Subotnick-Silver-Apples-Moon\/dp\/B005USQFBU\/?tag=howardmacom-20\"><em>Silver Apples of the Moon<\/em><\/a>, the first \u00c2\u00a0composition intended specifically for the long-playing vinyl record and home listening;<\/li>\n<li>as first director of multi-media at the Electric Circus, effected the birth of techno and electronic dance music;<\/li>\n<li>advanced electronic audio projection\/placement and improvisatory interaction to a high art;<\/li>\n<li>has worked and re-worked <em>Jacob&#8217;s Room<\/em>, a dark opera (sometimes, mono-opera) concerning the absolute isolation of individuals in the universe;<\/li>\n<li>produced &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Morton-Subotnicks-Making-Windows-Macintosh\/dp\/B0001LO2Y8\/ref=sr_1_7?s=software&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1365979292&amp;sr=1-7&amp;keywords=making+music\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Making Music<\/a>,&#8221; highly popular software to teach musical concepts to children, and<\/li>\n<li>last year released Pitch Painter, a $3.99 iPAD app that lets even toddlers \u00c2\u00a0compose by choosing instruments from the world over and tracing lines on a screen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_1320\" style=\"width: 269px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/pitch-painter.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1320\" class=\"wp-image-1320 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/pitch-painter.jpeg\" alt=\"pitch painter\" width=\"259\" height=\"194\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1320\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pitch Painter, from YouTube<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Subotnick is one of the most continuously innovative musicians on the planet, still. He performs, lectures and teaches, and has been getting up at 5 a.m. daily to write a book for M.I.T. Press. He&#8217;s candid and articulate about his remarkable 60 year career (he was a child prodigy clarinetist, soloing with symphonies while still in his teens), clear and detailed in his memories (he&#8217;s been friends and sometimes collaborator with inventors, composers and artists including Stan Brakhage, James Tenney, Ramon Sender, Donald Buchla, Allan Kaprow, and new music vocalist Joan La Barbara, with whom he&#8217;s been together for 33 years). He&#8217;s quite fit. He performed the entirety of <em>Silver Apples of the Moon<\/em> at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/event\/music\/163239499\/morton-subotnick-in-concert-moogfest-2012\">Moogfest 2012<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(today he does that using digital files and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Ableton-Suite-Full-Version-Software\/dp\/B00207T6EC\/ref=sr_1_3?s=software&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1365979474&amp;sr=1-3&amp;keywords=abelton\">Abelton Suite<\/a>), and has installed a prototype of Pitch Painter in the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amnh.org\/exhibitions\/past-exhibitions\/human-origins\/what-makes-us-human\/music\"> Human Origins hall of the American Museum of Natural History<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0in Manhattan.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been able to spend some time with Subotnick over the past year, in an attempt to produce a radio profile for NPR, which I hope will be broadcast within the next week.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s what happened when\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Mort-lets-me-play-with-Pitch-Painter.mp3\">Mort let me play with Pitch Painter<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(click to hear audio file).\u00c2\u00a0Besides that fun, Mort brought up two ideas in conversation that won&#8217;t make it to my radio script, yet stay with me.<\/p>\n<p>One is his dictum that &#8220;The appropriate feeling to come from listening to electronic music is awe,&#8221; by which he means electronic music has the power of a force of nature, a sound that generates wonder, rather like listening to a waterfall.<\/p>\n<p>The second is his speculation that in the 21st Century, time will be the new frontier. Perhaps not for manipulation &#8212; he&#8217;s not suggesting that a time machine is about to be invented &#8212; but he believes there will be an understanding that all time eras exist simultaneously . The example he gave me was that the clash between Western culture and Osama ben Laden, for instance, was a clash of epochs, and that ben Laden actually lived with a worldview akin to that of the West&#8217;s Middle Ages, which would not possibly countenance the West&#8217;s digitally-directed 21st Century. Yet both do<\/p>\n<p>Subotnick&#8217;s music since <em>Silver Apples<\/em> (1967) includes many electronics works &#8212; <em>Sidewinder<\/em>, <em>Touch<\/em>, <em>The Key To Songs<\/em>, <em>The Wild Bull<\/em>, <em>Until Spring,\u00c2\u00a0A Sky of Cloudless Sulpher<\/em>, <em>Gestures: It Begins With Colors<\/em> (with La Barbara), <em>Until Spring<\/em> &#8212; often including live video mixes, films and dancers. His work \u00c2\u00a0has never sounded like anything else, like anyone else&#8217;s. The simplest, over-arching description I can offer is it bubbles with complex, visceral joy. Exception to the joy and it&#8217;s a big one:\u00c2\u00a0<em>Jacob&#8217;s Room. <\/em>But take a look at the beautiful German production &#8212;<\/p>\n<p><object width=\"560\" height=\"315\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/bfvpaRo8UGA?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><\/object><\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve got an iPad, download Morton Subotnick&#8217;s Pitch Painter (<a href=\"http:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/WebObjects\/MZStore.woa\/wa\/viewMultiRoom?fcId=516815212&amp;s=143441\">via the iTune store<\/a>). Share it with kids &#8212; or else they&#8217;ll grab it from you. Tell them who to thank. Happy Birthday, Morton Subotnick.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.howardmandel.com\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">howardmandel.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/JazzBeyondJazz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Subscribe by Email or RSS<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/archives.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> All JBJ posts <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today &#8212; April 14 &#8212; \u00c2\u00a0is the 80th birthday of one of America&#8217;s greatest musical game-changers, Morton Subotnick, the man who: co-founded the San Francisco Tape Music Center; envisioned and developed the electronic synthesizer as a tabletop orchestral palette; created Silver Apples of the Moon, the first \u00c2\u00a0composition intended specifically for the long-playing vinyl record [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-lg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":389,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/04\/subotnick_lillevan_unsound_mak.html","url_meta":{"origin":1318,"position":0},"title":"Subotnick, Lillevan, Unsound make Lincoln Center an electric circus","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Morton\u00c2\u00a0Subotnick re-mixes original materials of his prophetic and unprecedented late '60s \u00c2\u00a0electronic music classic \"Silver Apples of the Moon\" with kinetic imagery by video artist\u00c2\u00a0Lillevan\u00c2\u00a0tonight (April 7)\u00c2\u00a0at the Rubenstein atrium of Lincoln Center --\u00c2\u00a0as detailed in my\u00c2\u00a0column\u00c2\u00a0in City Arts - New York. It's free as part of the 11-day\u00c2\u00a0Unsound Festival,\u00c2\u00a0an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"inside electric circus.jpeg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/assets_c\/2011\/04\/inside%20electric%20circus-thumb-460x349-19646.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2967,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2022\/02\/happy-90th-to-electronic-music-pioneer-herb-deutsch.html","url_meta":{"origin":1318,"position":1},"title":"Happy 90th to electronic music pioneer Herb Deutsch","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"February 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Herb Deutsch, the trumpeter-pianist-Theremin player-composer-Moog synthesizer co-creator and jazz inspired improviser turns 90 today, February 9, 2022, Robert Moog, l., and Herb Deutsch at the Moog modular synthesizer and a hearty Happy Birthday to him! In celebration, Moog Music has produced a video interview with this emeritus professor of Hofstra\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/download-8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":384,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/02\/gowanus_a_brooklyn_neighborhoo.html","url_meta":{"origin":1318,"position":2},"title":"Toxic Gowanus, Brooklyn neighb of new music lofts","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"February 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Gowanus, a Brooklyn neighborhood so unlovely it's been named an EPA superfund site,\u00a0is Ground Zero now for music lofts, as reported in my new City Arts-New York column. In\u00a0a half dozen or so artist-run spaces -- including IBeam, Douglas Street Collective, Littlefield, the Brooklyn Lyceum and Issue Project Room --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"03gowanus_CA0-articleLarge.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/03gowanus_CA0-articleLarge.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/03gowanus_CA0-articleLarge.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/03gowanus_CA0-articleLarge.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1455,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2013\/11\/14-performances-varied-sounds-in-six-weeks.html","url_meta":{"origin":1318,"position":3},"title":"14 performances &#8212; varied sounds &#8212; in six weeks","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"November 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In the past 6 weeks I've heard a lot of live music \u00c2\u00a0-- though just a patch on what I'd like to have gotten to. In reverse chronological order: Sunday night 11\/24: Adam Rudolph improvisationally conducting five flutists from his Go: Organic Orchestra at The Stone,\u00c2\u00a0then\u00c2\u00a0adding in his Moving Pictures\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"Erwin Helfer and me photo by Marc PoKempner","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Howie%2BErwin.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":612,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/11\/iraq-vet-and-new-orleans-avant-gardist-wativ-on-first-visit-to-nyc.html","url_meta":{"origin":1318,"position":4},"title":"Iraq vet and New Orleans avant-gardist WATIV on first visit to NYC","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"November 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Composer and improvising keyboardist William \"WATIV\" Thompson -- Mississippi-born, New Orleans-based and an Iraq war veteran who I profiled for NPR in 2005 (podcast below) when he was posting laptop computer music he created in Bagdad during free time from his counterintelligence duties --\u00c2\u00a0made his first visit to New York\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/hm-with-wativ-william-thompson.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/hm-with-wativ-william-thompson.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/hm-with-wativ-william-thompson.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/hm-with-wativ-william-thompson.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/hm-with-wativ-william-thompson.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/hm-with-wativ-william-thompson.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1033,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/09\/demise-er-downsizing-of-an-new-york-city-arts-review.html","url_meta":{"origin":1318,"position":5},"title":"Demise &#8212; er, downsizing &#8212; of an New York City arts review","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Low ad revenue for CityArts-New York has brought an end to the twice-monthly column on jazz and related music I've written since its first issue in March 2009. 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