00100											April 3,1975
00150	
00200	Dear Mr. Harris,
00300	
00400		Your letter of March 25 requesting information about Stanford's work in
00500	
00600	electronic music has been referred to me.  Over 10 years ago we decided against
00700	
00800	investing anything in the synthisizer field.   Instead we hoped to develop much
00900	
01000	better means of producing electronic music through the use of computers.   After many
01100	
01200	years we have created systems which make conventional electronic music devices
01300	
01400	seem primitive.  However there has been a continual  -  and partially losing  -
01500	
01600	battle to get enough computer time to make our work worthwhile.  We have a 
01700	
01800	marvelous system but the chances of producing more than a few pieces a year are
01900	
02000	quite slim because of a past history of zero financial support.   I am happy to
02100	
02200	say that this state of affairs is about to end (only by joining forces with the
02300	
02400	scientific community) and we are about to get a substantial federal grant to
02500	
02600	develop special, self-contained computer music system.  At first our new system
02700	
02800	will be attached to a large general purpose computer so that program development
02900	
03000	can be speeded.  But we hope to eventually have a "stand alone" system which may
03050	
03100	even reside in the music building!
03200	
03250	
03300		Because of the earlier lack of support we were forced to drop our classes
03400	
03500	in computer music last year.  This coming year we will have two grad students
03600	
03700	working on the project and we hope to be able eventually to have as many as ten
03800	
03900	students.  We do not plan to have any special degree program because our doctoral
04000	
04100	programs already allow for a high level of specialization.  Students using this
04200	
04300	system will no doubt include composers, some theorists and people in music education.
04400	
04500	Our concerts have included a good quantity of electronic music over the years.
04600	
04700	We have a regular series of about 6 concerts of contemporary music each season.
04800	
04900	We tend to avoid all-electronic concerts.
05000	
05050	
05100		This summer we will be holding another Workshop in Computer Generated Sound.
05200	
05300	I am sending you a brochure.  This is a very intensive course.  We have 12 hours of
05400	
05500	lectures each week and the participants get hands-on use of a large computer
05600	
05700	from 6 to 9 AM on four days a week.  Most of what we have learned over the years
05800	
05900	is discussed and demonstrated.
06000	
06050	
06100		I hope I have answered your questions adequately.
06200	
06300	
06350	
06400						Very sincerely,
06500	
06600	
06700	
06800						Leland Smith
06900						Professor of Music