Tape Music

Tape Music is a meditation on tape, both as a collection of materials that are emblematic of our throwaway culture and, to the contrary, can be used to mend items that would otherwise be thrown away. It is also a nostalgic tribute to the genre of tape music that developed when electronic music was encoded on magnetic tape. The name still persists when referring to electroacoustic pieces for ‘instrument and tape,’ despite the ongoing changes in playback media. Whether used merely to pack other, more permanent objects, or to extend the life of items we care about, these humble materials offer a surprising and delightful variety of timbres. The source materials come from recordings of myself ripping, cutting and otherwise playing with a variety of types of tape, as well as taping boxes and then slashing through the tape. Tape Music is part of my Quotidian Music series, comprised of electroacoustic and digital pieces fashioned from sounds thatwe often overlook, but nonetheless contribute to our sonic ecology. The electroacoustic ones are all created for participatory performance and do not require special music training. Tape Music was premiered at the 3P Festival in Richmond, VA on 11/02/2013. For more information, visit www.judithshatin.com. –JS