Keyboard Energies: A Symposium

About This Event

Globally and locally, what are the sources and sinks of the energy that keyboard instruments consume and produce? How might they be apprehended as interfaces and archives as well as material, historical, and geographical assemblages? And how can (or should) we sustain and reinvent keyboard cultures in the face of an uncertain future? “Keyboard Energies” addresses these questions by way of the remarkable history of instruments, experimentation, and electricity across 20th-century New York State. Presentations will explore how keyboard culture has been powered since Niagara Falls started generating electricity in 1882, while performances will include a hand- and foot-powered program of water-inspired music on Cornell’s baroque organ.

Friday, April 25, 2025

CONCERT: Elemental Energies at the Keyboard
7:30pm
Barnes Hall

Harpsichord strings will vibrate in sympathy with the oscillators of the Minimoog synthesizer over the course of a program tracing the themes of musical elements (water, air, earth, and fire) and electrification. Performing on an array of eleven aerophonic, chordophonic, and electrophonic keyboard instruments, Cornell faculty and graduate students will be joined by special guests from the Ithaca area in presenting music by C. P. E. & J. S. Bach, David Borden, Anne Louise Brillon de Jouy, György Ligeti, Jasmine Morris, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Dane Rudhyar, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Richard Wagner. 

Saturday, April 26, 2025

SESSION 1: The Organization of Electricity and the Electrification of Organs
9-11:30am
A. D. White House, Guerlac Room

Roger Moseley - Arcs of History
Nathan Laube - Electricity and the Organ
Anne Laver & Michael Laver - Mules and Melodies: The
Impact of the Erie Canal on Organ Building and Culture in New York State
Annette Richards - "Sure you can": The Hammond Organ, Electric Domesticity, and the Mid-Century American Woman

RECITAL: Wind and Water with David Yearsley
11:45am-12:30pm
Anabel Taylor Chapel

SESSION 2: The Color of Sound and Other Digitized Analogies
2-4pm
A. D. White House, Guerlac Room

Owen Marshall - Auto-Tune, Energy, and the Keyboardized Voice
Deirdre Loughridge - Analogical Instruments
Darren Mueller - Herbie Hancock, the DX7, and the Fairlight

CONCERT: Gary Versace Organ Trio
5pm
Lincoln Hall B20

Featured Guests

• Roger Moseley, Cornell University
• Annette Richards, Cornell University
• Morton Wan, Hobart & William Smith
• Kirsten Paige, North Caroline State University
• Daniel Walden, Yale University
• Darren Mueller, Eastman School of Music
• Deirdre Loughridge, Northeastern University
• James Davies, University of California, Berkeley
• Fanny Gribenski, Columbia University
• Anna Steppler, Peterhouse College, Cambridge University
• David Irving, Institució Milà i Fontanals, Barcelona
• Todd Cowen, Cornell University
• Annie Laver, Syracuse University
• Nathan Laube, Eastman School of Music
• David Yearsley, Cornell University
• Gary Versace, Eastman School of Music
• Owen Marshall, Cornell University

Co-sponsors

• Society for the Humanities
• Rural Humanities Initiative