Virtual Music

William Duckworth has composed over 100 works, including his Time Curve Preludes for solo piano, and the choral work, Southern Harmony. A professor of music at Bucknell University, he teaches both music history and composition. He lives in West New York, NJ, and Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

"Speaking of the web, if you are curious about the history of web-based music, I'd recommend the freshly published, Virtual Music: How the Web Got Wired for Sound. . . the book traces the development of interactive music through the 20th century from Erik Satie through John Cage, Brian Eno, Moby, and others. The technology itself is described as it has inspired experimentation by artists, including composers who have developed new ways to involve the audience in their music, plus possibilities for the non-musically trained to 'play the Web'." -- Scanner, on his webblog"An electronic composer himself, Duckworth begins with the history of "interactive music," including artists such as John Cage and Erik Satie, and rockets into the future with pioneers such as Brian Eno and Moby, exploring the many ways the Internet has changed the mode of distribution for artists, as well as the unique opportunities it presents for a sort of virtual studio and a creative tool unlike any other in the history of recorded sound." -- Jim Derogatis, Chicago Sun Times"An intriguing survey of the science and musics of sound in a new environment." -- Bookwatch"...an excellent starting place for considering the historical antecedents that made virtual music desirable and possible." --Popular Music and Society

• Introduction: Making Music in Thin Air Chapter 1 A Brief History of Interactive Music Chapter 2 Unsilent Night: A Case Chapter 3 The Brain Opera: A Case Study in Space Chapter 4 Music on the Web in the Twentieth Century Chapter 5 Cathedral: A Case Study in Time Chapter 6 Cell Phones and Satellites Chapter 7 Art and Ethics Online Chapter 8 The Grey Album: A Case Chapter 9 Virtual Music