Tape
Magnetic tape for storing sound.
What it means
Tape is a strip of plastic coated with a magnetizable layer, on which sound is recorded. It became widespread in the middle of the twentieth century and fundamentally changed the handling of music, because it allowed sound to be stored, cut, reversed, changed in speed, and layered. In scores, the indication “tape” designates a pre-produced sound part that is played in during the performance.
Musical use
For composition, tape meant a new level of material: recorded noises and sounds themselves become material that can be worked on — the basis of musique concrète and electronic music. With this, for the first time, a music became possible that is no longer mediated through notation and performers but exists directly as sound. Also widespread are works for instruments and tape, in which live playing and playback meet. Today digital methods take over these tasks; the works remain, and with them the question of how historical tape materials are preserved and reproduced.
Performance practice
With works involving playback, clarify beforehand the technology, loudspeaker placement, and volume relationships; they belong to interpretation and not to technology alone. Practise with the playback, not only with the notated text, for the tape dictates the tempo relentlessly and allows no adjustment. Fix unambiguous entry points and rehearse the starting. Check the condition of old recordings in good time and keep a checked copy ready. Expect differences between the rehearsal room and the performance space.
Bear in mind that the preservation of old tape recordings is a problem of its own: the carrier material decomposes, and suitable playback devices become rare. Check in good time whether a playable and checked copy exists. From the 1950s onward, the WDR Studio for Electronic Music in Cologne worked with tape technology. Loops made from spliced tape loops were an early means of repetition. Stockhausen's Gesang der Jünglinge of 1956 is a central work for tape.
Check whether the playback exists at the intended sample rate, because otherwise pitch and duration will deviate.