Barry Truax (born 1947) is a Canadian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

who specializes in real-time implementations of granular synthesis, often of sampled sounds, and

soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term, originally coined by Michael Southworth, was popularized by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...

s. He is credited with developing the first ever implementation of real-time granular synthesis in 1986, with being the first composer to explore the range between synchronic and asynchronic granular synthesis in ''Riverrun'' (1986), and being the first to use a sample as the source of a granular composition in ''Wings of Nike'' (1987). Truax is Professor Emeritus of

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

, where he taught both

electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a Music genre, genre of Western art music in which composers use recording technology and audio signal processing to manipulate the timbres of Acoustics, acoustic sounds in the creation of pieces of music. It originated a ...

and acoustic communication. He was one of the original members of the

World Soundscape Project The World Soundscape Project (WSP) was an international research project founded by Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer in the late 1960s at Simon Fraser University. The project initiated the modern study of acoustic ecology. Its ultimate goal is ...

Selected compositions

* ''The Blind Man'' (1979) * ''Riverrun'' (1986, Wergo WER 2017–50) * ''Wings of Nike'' (1987, Cambridge Street Records CSR CD-9401 and ''

Perspectives of New Music ''Perspectives of New Music'' (PNM) is a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Musi ...

'' CD PNM 28) * ''Tongues of Angels'' (1988, Centrediscs CMC CD-4793) * ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1989, Cambridge Street Records CSR-CD 9601) * ''Pacific'' (1990, Cambridge Street Records CSR CD-9101) * ''Pacific Fanfare'' (1996) * ''Wings of Fire'' for female cellist and two digital soundtracks including the Joy Kirstin poem "Wings of Fire" read by Ellie Epp (1996) * ''Androgyne, Mon Amour'' for amplified male double bass player and two digital soundtracks including text from

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

' 1977 book of the same title read by Douglas Huffman (1997)

References

External links

, British Columbia {{DEFAULTSORT:Truax, Barry 21st-century Canadian classical composers Living people 1947 births 20th-century Canadian classical composers Canadian electronic musicians Electroacoustic music composers Canadian male classical composers 20th-century Canadian male musicians 21st-century Canadian male musicians

Selected compositions

References

Further reading

External links