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The Composer’s black box. Making Music in Cybernetic America (first edition)
I recently (July 2026) received this book, written by Theodore Gordon, as a gift from a very appreciative student.
Stories about new musical instruments are often told as quests for new kinds of sounds. The Composer’s Black Box asks, What happens when new musical instruments produce not only new sounds but also new dynamics of musical agency and control? And what consequences do those new dynamics have for musicality beyond sound? With a focus on five key figures—Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, Donald Buchla, Alvin Lucier, and Sun Ra—this book explores how scientific and technological developments in mid-twentieth-century America galvanized musicians to reconfigure their conceptions of sociality, freedom, and the creative self. Theodore Gordon shows how cybernetic thinking in a range of disciplines, from experimental music to jazz and electrical engineering, has shaped musical techniques and technologies and changed what it means to be a composer—or, more broadly, a music-making human—in an increasingly informational world.
Don’t expect many figures or photo’s in this book. If you want that, then consider ‘Classic Keys‘.
Theodore Gordon is Assistant Professor of Music at Baruch College and the Graduate Center, City University of California Press, Oakland. He is a musician and musicologist, working to connect the study of music with the study of science & technology.
Theodore Gordon
