Can the analogue past inform the digital present

The prospect of composing music by means of technology can be intimidating for students unaccustomed to the challenges of the contemporary digital studio. Computers are, perhaps inevitably, associated with scientific laboratories — an image which is hardly conducive to lengthy, creative study. Rows of apparently inert black or grey boxes rarely offer a pleasurable sensation comparable to the immediate feedback and tactile physicality of playing an instrument, which is, naturally, the experience with which most student musicians are familiar. Musicians invariably want to communicate with others even at the preliminary stages of composing and performing. Indeed, even a familiar routine such as practising ensures a musician’s private space will radiate outwards to include others within a broader, more communal area. Such sociability is inhibited if a student is obliged to wear headphones and sit, locked in a private world, staring at a computer monitor, their gestures reduced to merely clicking with a mouse. In an attempt to adapt to this new environment musicians will inevitably refer to reassuring, traditional notions such as ‘the instrument’, ‘expression’ and ‘performance’. But the new context of the studio demands a constant re-evaluation of even these most basic musical concepts. I would argue, of course, that this is precisely the valuable and challenging contribution the electroacoustic medium can offer to music education: it poses questions relevant to all musicians (even if occasionally it appears to defer providing any answers!). Fundamental æsthetic and sociological issues intrude immediately, demanding the attention of all who work with technology. If this account of the studio environment seems excessively gloomy, I will readily assert that in my experience electroacoustic musicians are rarely more dysfunctional than their traditional colleagues. Even a cursory examination reveals the popularity of electroacoustic music in British higher education, indicating that many intelligent students