BRATTLEBORO — This summer, the Estey Organ Museum will present “A Lifetime for Sound,” a retrospective of physicist Harald Bode and his contributions to electronic music.
This is a 50-year survey in image and sound recordings, documenting the contributions of Bode, one of the great pioneers of electronic sound. His career spans 50 years of innovation, during which he produced more than 15 instruments.
“There's adventure and excitement [in his career path],” said his son, Peer Bode, who directs the Harald Bode Archive.
Bode says his father was an entrepreneur and did not follow the same university or company-sponsored career path as his contemporaries.
“He wore many hats,” he said.
He hopes visitors will see the historical connection between his father's pioneering work and today's new media as “a way of understanding were we are now."
The exhibit includes an “audio jukebox,” digitized sound files of Bode's music and music using his synthesizers from 1949 to the mid-1980s.
“It's great to have real, live people connected to this [music], and not have it be just about the technology,” he said.
In 1937, Harald Bode built his Warbo Formant electronic organ, which had capabilities similar to those found in modern synthesizers. In the 20 years that followed, he developed a series of electronic keyboard instruments whose design variously balanced between imitating known instruments and enabling completely new sound possibilities. He is credited with the first modular synthesizer/processor and renowned for his later standalone processors.
Bode also contributed to the field of electronic sound with inventions like the Melochord (1947-1953), the first postwar electronic instrument in Europe.
Harald Bode and his family moved to Brattleboro in 1954, where he was vice president and director of research and development for the Estey Organ Corp. until 1959. He brought to the Estey Organ Co. the latest in electronic organ development. Along with a team of young engineering talent, he developed the new, state-of-the-art, Estey Electronic Organ models S and AS1.
In 1960, when Bode presented his modular synthesizer and sound processor at that year's convention of the Audio Engineering Society, he ushered in the era of the analog modular synthesizer. Bob Moog was in attendance and inspired by Bode's concept of the modular sound studio. This led to the development of the famed Moog Synthesizer.
The Bode Frequency Shifters (1961-1980) have become a legend. To this date, they remain in high demand. The instrument has been cloned by other manufacturers as well as emulated in computer software.
The music made with the Bode Frequency Shifter ranges from the classical avant-garde of Vladimir Ussachewsky and Wendy Carlos to the electo-pop of Kraftwerk. The Bode Ring Modulators (1961) were also used in major academic and professional music studios including those of Joel Chadabe, Paul Bley and Motown.
The Bode (Moog) Vocoder (1977) was a particular success and is noted for its unique sound. It can be found on hit records of the era, including the 1979 Lipps Inc. megahit, Funkytown.
Among the many artists who purchased the instrument were musician Michael Boddicker, who used it on Michael Jackson's, 1982 record breaking album, Thriller. Suzanne Ciani made significant use of the Bode Vocoder for her many radio and television ads. And it can be found in the work of video artists such as Woody Vasulka and Gary Hill.
The exhibition will be open this summer on Saturdays and Sundays from 1-4 p.m at the museum, at 108 Birge St. For additional information or special arrangements please call 802-254-4280.