Well, honestly – we found out far too late. There is an interesting exhibition about development and Electronic Music. Although the exhiibion focusses on the Dance scene – there is much too see and hear about the development of Electronic Music Instruments and its founders.
“Shortly after the Second World War, the early pioneers of electronic music began to investigate how they could create sounds in ways that were not normally used in music. In laboratories, engineers and composers worked with all kinds of devices that produced electronic sounds. Due to rapid technological advances such as digitalization and miniaturization, creating electronic music became increasingly accessible. Nowadays, you can even make this music in your bedroom: all you need is a laptop for production and the internet for distribution. In this part of the exhibition, you will see a number of unique electronic instruments from the 1920s, such as the Theremin and the Ondes Musicales Martenot. You will also discover a collection of the most influential synthesizers and drum computers, from the 1960s to the present. On the interactive table, you can play the online versions of these instruments yourself.”
Furthermore there are a lot of other (real) synths exhibited and, on August 18, there is a workshop by Willem Twee studios, dicussing and demonstrating synths such as the ARP 2500. “In Studio 1 you will find analogue test and measurement instruments from the 50s and 60s such as sine wave oscillators and various filters. This equipment was not initially intended for making music, but the first electronic music composers proved that this was indeed possible. In Studio 2 you can work with an extensive historical collection of synthesizers from the 70s and 80s such as the Mini Moog and the ARP 2500. This workshop is intended for anyone who would like to get to know the world of electronic music and discover the unique studios of Willem Twee. The workshop consists of a short general introduction about the history of the studios and electronic music. After that, you will get a tour of the different spaces. Finally, you will get to work yourself in a work session….”
The exhibition will be open until August 25. More info and tickets here.