Dictionary of Music - Birding America

stopping 401Stockhausen (shtok′hou zən), Karlheinz (kärl′hīnts′′), 1928– . A German composer whobecame one of the pioneers of electronic music.After World War II Stockhausen studied with theSwiss composer Frank Martin and later with OlivierMessiaen in Paris. After a period of experimentationwith serial techniques, musique concrète, andaleatory music, he became involved with a radio studioat Cologne, Germany, that became a leadingcenter for ELECTRONIC MUSIC. Up to the mid-1960sStockhausen’s works often made use of serial techniquesapplied not just to pitches but to all aspects ofthe material—duration (time values of sounds),degrees of density, the disposition of sounds inspace, and even the extent to which the composerdictates performance (see SERIAL MUSIC). Amongnotable works from this period are Zeitmasse(“Measures of Time”) for oboe, flute, English horn,clarinet, and bassoon, in which the tempo andrhythm for each instrument’s part are governed bythe instrument’s capabilities; Klavierstücke XI(“Piano Pieces XI”), in which the pianist maychoose how to play the nineteen fragments of whichthe piece consists; Gruppen (“Groups”) for threeorchestras placed in different parts of a hall, eachwith its own conductor; Carré (“Square”) for fourchoruses and four instrumental groups; Momente(“Moments”) for soprano, four choruses, keyboard,percussion, and brass instruments, which consists ofmany kinds of sound—banging, singing, speaking,babbling, whispering, and all kinds of instrumentalsound—arranged into a series of “moments,” eachwith a given duration, but which may be performedin any order; and Mikrophonie 1, his first electronicpiece, for a single tam-tam (gong) that is played onby six performers in all kinds of ways, including theuse of microphones to pick up the gong’s vibrations.From the mid-1960s on Stockhausen toured widelywith his own live electronic music ensemble andcontinued to explore the application of electronics totraditional instruments. The new sounds and procedureshe called for often required new notation; forexample, he sometimes used the plus, minus, andequal signs of arithmetic to instruct performers.Works from this period include Stimmung (“Tuning”)for six vocalists, who tune to different overtonesof a low B-flat and proceed to sing and chantgiven sounds for more than an hour; Mantra, for twopianos and tape, based entirely on a single melody,in which ring modulators alter the harmonics so asto create patterns of consonance and dissonance. In1977 he began Licht (“Light”), a seven-eveningmusical theater piece dealing with mythic subjects,each for one day of the week.StollenSee under BAR FORM.stomp A blues composition with a heavilymarked beat. This feature is also present in SOUL.See also BLUES.stop 1 In organs, a knob or lever that controls thepassage of air to a particular rank (set) of pipes,causing them to sound or remain silent. The rank ofpipes so controlled is also called a stop. The organistselects the desired pipes by drawing the appropriatestops. An organ has as many stops as it has ranks ofpipes, as well as some stops that control severalranks at a time (mixture stops). See also ORGAN. 2 Inharpsichords, a lever that moves to one side theslides holding certain jacks (hooklike devices thatpluck the strings), so that only some of the stringsare plucked when a key is depressed. The use ofsuch stops alters the pitch, the tone color, or both.Harpsichords have far fewer stops than organs, usuallyanywhere from four to six. Sometimes the stopsare controlled by pedals instead of knobs. See alsoHARPSICHORD.stopped notestopped stringdef. 1.See under STOPPING.See under STRING; also STOPPING,stopping 1 In stringed instruments, such as theviolin, guitar, and lute, altering the pitches of soundsproduced by each string by holding down the stringat certain points, thereby shortening its soundinglength. A string so held down is said to be stopped;an unstopped string is called an open string. Thetechnique of holding down two strings at the sametime is called DOUBLE STOPPING (although this termalso refers to playing on two open strings at thesame time); holding down three strings is called