Electronic music

Electronic music is music created or transformed using electronic sound-generating, processing, or recording technologies. It ranges from compositions made entirely with electronic instruments to recordings that combine electronic and acoustic sounds.

Synthesizer: An electronic instrument that generates or processes sound to produce musical tones. Synthesizers create the tones and timbres central to many electronic compositions.
Telharmonium: An early electromechanical instrument, developed by Thaddeus Cahill and demonstrated publicly in the early twentieth century. Its networked transmission of generated tones anticipated later electronic music systems.
Karlheinz Stockhausen: A German composer whose postwar work explored electronic sound, serialism, and spatial composition. His studio compositions and theories shaped European electronic music.
Electronic dance music: Dance-oriented music produced primarily with electronic instruments, recording, and sound processing. It is one of electronic music’s largest and most varied popular branches.
Acoustic music: Music produced primarily by instruments or voices whose sound is generated acoustically rather than electronically. The distinction highlights electronic sound generation without implying that acoustic sources are excluded.
Sound synthesis: The creation of sound by combining or manipulating electrical or digital signals. Synthesis techniques determine how electronic music’s sounds are built.
Theremin: An electronic instrument played without physical contact, using hand movements to control pitch and volume. Its distinctive performance practice brought electronic sound onto concert stages.
Pierre Schaeffer: A French composer and engineer who developed musique concrète through recorded-sound experimentation. His work established sound recording as a source of musical material.
Ambient music: Music that emphasizes atmosphere and sustained texture, often without a prominent beat or conventional song structure. Electronic techniques make evolving timbres and spacious textures especially practical.
Electroacoustic music: Music combining acoustic sound sources with electronic processing, recording, or playback. It describes a major overlap between electronic production and acoustic performance.

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