The 16° episode dedicated to the discovery of Research Centers, Museums and Recording Studios where electronic music in all its forms is studied and practiced. First: Museo del Synt Marchigiano – Italy (here). Second: SMEM Swiss Museum for Electronic Music Instruments – Swiss (here). Third: MESS Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio – Australia (here). Fouth: Nakatsugawa Korg Museum – Japan (here). Fifth: Museo della Farfisa – Italy (here). Sixth: VSM Vintage Synthesizer Museum – USA (here). Seventh: CIM: Colloquio di Informatica Musicale XXIII – Italy (here). Eighth: SoundMit – International Synth Event – Italy (here). Nine: EMEAPP – Electronic Music Education and Preservation Project – USA (here). Ten: EMS Elektronmusik Studion – Sverige (here). Eleven: Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) – Swiss (here). Twelve: IEM Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics, Austria (here). Thirteen: Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT), USA (here). Fourtheen: Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), USA (here). Fiftheen: Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras (CMMAS), Mexico (here). Today is the turn of the interview with Richard Barrett, Institute of Sonology, Royal Conservatoire, Le Hague – Nederland. I invite you to read the interview.
How did the Institute of Sonology come about?
The Institute has a long history. Its origins date back to the 1950s but the Institute of Sonology as such was founded in 1967 with Gottfried Michael Koenig as its first director. At that time it was part of Utrecht University, and in 1986 it transferred to the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. A more detailed timeline of Sonology’s history can be seen here: sonology.org/sonology-timeline
How is it structured?
The principal activity of the Institute at present is its educational programmes: Bachelors and Masters degrees and a one-year course. Through its public presentations the Institute is also a regular participant in the cultural life of The Hague. Since 2022 it has been located in the new Amare building which also houses the rest of the Conservatoire plus the Netherlands Dance Theatre, Residentie Orchestra and other cultural organisations. Our mission statement can be accessed here: sonology.org/mission
Sonology also houses an archive of the vast amount of work that has been produced there since the 1960s, housed in a temperature- and humidity-controlled enviroment.
Several of the activities taking place at Sonology are supported by the Konrad Boehmer Foundation, in the name of the late Konrad Boehmer who directed the Institute between 1994 and 2006. Konrad Boehmer Visiting Professors at Sonology since this scheme began in 2016 have included Trevor Wishart, Horacio Vaggione, Nicolas Collins, Daniel Teruggi, Peter Ablinger and Cathy van Eck.
What equipment does the Institute of Sonology have?
The Institute comprises the following studios:
(1) the Voltage Control studio, for teaching and production of music using analogue techniques, with an extensive custom-built modular system which has evolved over the entire period of the Institute’s existence. This studio contains an 8-channel loudspeaker system.
(2) the Live Electronic studio, also 8 channels, plus additional small powered loudspeakers for local amplification, which is used as a teachnig studio as well as for rehearsal and recording of live electronic performance activities.
(3) the Wavefield Synthesis studio, which, alongside a traditional 8 channel system contains a WFS system. The Institute organises a WFS Festival every year in which compositions made with this system are presented in public (using the Game of Life Foundation’s moveable WFS system).
(4) A teaching studio with multiple workstations, Computer Music Studio 1.
(5) Computer Music Studio 2, a small production studio with a 5.1 system.
(6) the New Music Lab, a larger space with room for an audience of up to 80 people, used for teaching and for rehearsals and concerts. It has a 16 channel sound system installed which can be augmented as necessary.
The studios are illustrated and described in more detail under “Facilities” at sonology.org
All of these studios are also equipped with screens and/or beamers for audiovisual work. The Institute also presents regular concerts in the Conservatoriumzaal in the same building, a larger concert hall that can be configured with or without raked seating, and occasionally at other venues within the building and elsewhere, including the Nieuwe Kerk across the road, and the Toonzaal Willem Twee in Den Bosch.
While Sonology is a well equipped institution, of course at least as important is the teaching staff, who are all involved in creative work and research in many different areas including fixed media composition, instrumental and mixed composition, improvisation, sound art and installation, performance art and field recording.
What can you do at the Institute of Sonology? Is it possible to do research at the Institute of Sonology?
Apart from the aforementioned courses, Sonology is affiliated with the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts at Leiden University, whose PhD researchers have access to the Institute as research associates and also contribute to lectures and colloquia. Most Sonology staff members are also involved in research, often on projects undertaken in association with a Research Lectorate at the Conservatoire. In my case, for example, this resulted in the book ‘Transforming Moments’ which was published by Vision Edition in the UK in 2023. Sonology’s Masters programme is focused strongly on research: students are accepted on the basis of a research proposal on which they are supervised for two years, resulting in a live presentation (concert and/or installation) alongside a written thesis. Some of these research outputs can be accessed here: sonology.org/masters-theses
I also convene the Sonology Electroacoustic Ensemble, a group varying between 3 and 20 participants, which is open to all students of the Conservatoire (as well as staff, ex-students and guests) and gives regular public performances. The Ensemble generally consists of more or less equal numbers of electronic and acoustic instruments/voices, and works with free improvisation and live spatialisation, having been inspired by the Evan Parker Electroacoustic Ensemble of which I’ve been a regular member since 2003. Some of the Ensemble’s work from 2010 to 2018 can be accessed here soundcloud.com/r-barrett/sets/see – and some more recent work in my research report “A Year in the Life of the Sonology Electroacoustic Ensemble” which is at this link researchcatalogue.net/view/800019/800020
The Institute has also been responsible for a number of international festivals, for example the complete electroacoustic work of Iannis Xenakis in ‘Géométrie spatiale’ (2012) and explorations of spatial music in ‘Composing Spaces’ (2013 and 2023) which have involved among other events the GRM Acousmonium and a performance of Luigi Nono’s No hay caminos… for seven orchestral groups. We also organise a three- or four-day festival around the work of graduating students every June.
Is the Institute of Sonology on social media?
Sonology has a Facebook page: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057524766957
Does the Institute of Sonology care for the issue of gender in Electronic Music? And in the Nederlands Musical Culture?
We recognise the crucial importance of addressing gender issues in culture in general and electronic music in particular. At this point we have approximate gender parity in the student body as a whole and in each of the three programmes, and of course we welcome trans and nonbinary people and respect everyone’s stated gender and pronouns. We are also concerned to incorporate gender diversity in the creative work we use as examples and models in our teaching. It isn’t unusual for a Sonology concert to feature only works by women.
What is your relationship with the Nederlands Government?
As part of the Royal Conservatoire, which is itself a component of the University of the Arts The Hague, the Institute is a government-funded institution.
Is the Institute of Sonology open to collaborations with institutions, associations, research centres?
Sonology is currently associated with a number of institutions (see sonology.org/links-connected-institutions) including the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris and the electronic studio of the Technische Universität in Berlin, which which Sonology shares a joint Masters programme in “Audio Communication and Sonology” (sonology.org/audio-communication-sonology-programme).
Ongoing projects and future projects?
As you can imagine, there are as many ongoing projects as there are staff and research students, and our public concerts are supplemented by informal presentations taking place almost every week. In early 2025 we are planning a collaboration with Filmhuis Den Haag on live electronic music for silent films.
Link: Institute of Sonology Home Page
Link: Institute of Sonology Facebook Page
