Imaginary Landscape no. 5 – original 78s.

Posted on September 13, 2026 by Tom Erbe

I spent some time this summer identifying the 42 jazz records used in the original version of John Cage’s Imaginary Landscape no. 5 in 1952. The original 78s were provided by dancer Jean Erdmann, who asked Cage to create the piece for her dance Portrait of a Lady. The piece was edited by Bebe and Louis Barron. Most of the 42 pieces can be identified through listening to a copy of Erdmann’s tape and referencing Cage’s score. Both sides of the 78 was used in almost all the samples I identified. 19 78s are listed below, 2 more are needed to complete the piece. Those listed in italics are a flip side that I couldn’t identify in the original. Most of the unidentified samples are under 2 seconds.

Al Cooper’s Savoy Sultans – Fish for Supper	Al Cooper’s Savoy Sultans – Boats	Decca 8598
Machito – Cancion	Machito – Mambo	Mercury C-505
Baby Dodds – Rudiments	Baby Dodds – Maryland	Folkways 02990
Bob Crosby – The Big Noise from Winnetka	Bob Crosby – Honky Tonk Train Blues	Decca 25117
Count Basie – Jivin’ Joe Jackson	Count Basie – Queer Street	Columbia 36889
Miles Davis – Budo	Miles Davis – Move	Capitol 15404
Lil Hardin – Confessin	Lil Hardin – Eastown Boogie	Black & White 1210
Louis Armstrong – Got No Blues	Louis Armstrong – I’m Not Rough	Okeh 8551
Benny Goodman Sextet – Flying Home	Benny Goodman Sextet – I Found A New Baby	Columbia 36721
Stan Kenton – Safranski	Stan Kenton – Opus in Pastels	Capitol 20088
Louis Armstrong – After You’re Gone	Louis Armstrong – St. Louis Blues	Okeh 41350
Dizzy Gillespie – Ow	Dizzy Gillespie – Oopopada	RCA Victor 20-2480
Fats Waller – Somebody Stole My Gal	Fats Waller – Sugar Blues	Victor 25194
Benny Goodman – Blue Room	Benny Goodman – Swingtime in the Rockies	Columbia 39312
Duke Ellington – Sepia Panorama	Duke Ellington – Harlem Air Shaft	HMV B9135
Don Byas – How High The Moon	Charlie Parker – Ko Ko	Savoy 597
Billie Holiday – I Cover The Waterfront	Billie Holiday – Lover Come Back To Me	Commodore 559
Charlie Parker – Warming Up a Riff	Charlie Parker – Thriving on a Riff	Savoy 945
Benny Goodman – Sing Sing Sing Pt. 1	Benny Goodman – Sing Sing Sing Pt. 2	Victor 36205

mus172 – final

Posted on June 11, 2019 by Tom Erbe

create a PD patch that incorporates

1) a polyphonic synthesizer based on multiple wavetable oscillators and 2 modulated filters
2) a multisample player that plays percussive and vocal or environmental sounds
3) 3 effects (e.g. reverb, delay, chorus, flange, pitch-shift, auto-pan, auto-wah, distortion, etc.) where each effect can process either the polyphonic synth, the sample player, both instruments together, or neither instrument (effect disabled).
4) use spatial techniques to place each of 1, 2 & 3 in separate spaces
5) all elements of 1-4 need to be controlled from a front panel with well designed and labelled controls
6) either
6a) create a piece that lasts at least 3 minutes and has at least 3 sections using 1-4 above and can be played with qlist
or
6b) perform a piece that lasts at least 3 minutes and has at least 3 sections using 1-4 above
7) present in class either week 10 thursday or during the final (tues 3-6)
8) extra credit: use more than 2 speakers for your spatialization

sound quality, synthesis quality and originality count.
must be handed in before our final (3PM, Tues, June 11th)

mus172 – spectral patches (w10)

Posted on June 4, 2019 by Tom Erbe

PD patches for week 10 tuesday:

10 – spectral

mus172 – granular synthesis

Posted on May 30, 2019 by Tom Erbe

In the following patches metro is used to trigger multiple overlapping grains. In each grain parameter values (often randomized) are loaded and an envelope triggered to play a sound with a smooth beginning and end. The length of the grain is modulated to overlap the grains. In one of the examples (to be completed in class), phasor~ is used to drive the granular synthesis.

Download these patches: grainpatches