Piezoelectric innovations played an important role in the development of electronic music, especially in the experimental scene from the late 1950s onward. One of the main reasons can be found in the possibilities unfolded by amplification, as Michael Nyman observes:
Amplification may reveal a previously unheard, unsuspected range of sounds, drawn out of the hitherto mute or near-mute instrument of whatever nature, bringing about both quantitative and qualitative changes in the materials amplified (Nyman, 1999, p.92).
As Nyman suggests, an amplified sound — a sound transduced from the acoustical to the electronic domain — is perceived differently not only because quite sounds can be made very loud, but more significantly because the proximity of a microphone captures different features of the sound source, that were previously unheard. This shift in perception is even stronger when the microphone is a contact mike. Vibrations picked up directly from a surface sound different from the same vibrations after they travel through the air. The resonant material acts as a filter, and the contact microphone picks up the objects “inner sound” like a heartbeat heard through a stethoscope. Through piezoelectricity, composers and musicians started to grasp the full potential of amplification, as a creative tool.
>> go to 1.3 Cartridge Music by John Cage and Apple Box by Pauline Oliveros