Delia Derbyshire - Pioneer of Electronic Music

[Firth]

http://www.openculture.com/2015/07/two-documentaries-introduce-delia-derbyshire-the-pioneer-in-electronic-music.html

[rcarlberg]

[Mr.Krautman]

Thanks for the very interesting links. I mainly know Delia Derbyshire for her contributions to David Vorhaus WHITE NOISE (An Electric Storm) project which I consider a groundbreaking and innovative record, to be filed along with Pet Sounds or SPLHCB. There were very few womans amongst the early electronic music pioneers and Delia desserves a special mention for being one of them. It's a shame she only concentrated on studio works and remained mostly unknow outside the specialized electronic/experimental/music concrete field. Though allmost everyone knows Dr Who's main theme very few are aware about Derbyshire's essential electronic re-orchestrations of Grainer's composition.

[whatwherewhywhen]

lots of clips and a documentary here too -
http://www.ubu.com/sound/derbyshire.html

[GuitarGeek]

Though allmost everyone knows Dr Who's main theme very few are aware about Derbyshire's essential electronic re-orchestrations of Grainer's composition.

That's because the BBC refused to credit the individual members of the Radiophonic Workshop for their work. Delia once said that Ron Grainer was taken aback because he didn't think what she had accomplished was even possible, so much so that he wanted her to have an onscreen credit. But the BBC high sheriffs vetoed the request. I think the on-screen credit always read something like "Theme Music by Ron Grainer and The BBC Radiophonic Workshop".

And when you think the primitive she had to work with at the time, test oscillators, noise sources, tape machines, etc, having to record each note of the melody on a separate piece of tape then splicing them altogether, using a tape loop that went all the way around the studio control room for the bass line, it is startling that something like that was even possible. I think it says a lot that her recording was more or less used for the first 17 years of the show's existence (well, apart from the occasional remix, but that's the same melody and bass line running through all of them).