Terry Rusling (April 2, 1931 – November 27, 1974) was a Canadian electronic music composer, who used graphic notation. Some of his works were used to accompany radio and television broadcasts.
Introduction to electronic composition Terry Rusling worked as an engineer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). He was on-air engineer for the Gilmour's Albums hosted by CBC broadcaster Clyde Gilmour. In the early 1960s, Morris Surdin, a composer working at the CBC, suggested to Rusling that he try out the electronic studio at University of Toronto, Faculty of Music (UTEMS)."The Electronic Music Studio of the University of Toronto" by Myron Schaeffer, Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Spring, 1963), pp. 73-81 Through Surdin, Rusling was introduced to Dr. Myron Schaeffer, to whom he submitted his first electronic compositions. Schaeffer invited Rusling to attend the graduate seminar at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Music, using the renowned electronic music studio (UTEMS) which included instruments designed by Hugh LeCaine such as the Special Purpose Tape Recorder. Rusling was awarded the title of Research Associate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music. Among the notable composers who studied at University of Toronto's Electronic Music Studio (UTEMS) University of Toronto, Faculty of Music were John Mills-Cockell, Pauline Oliveros, Ann Southam, Gustav Ciamaga, John Beckwith, among others. During this period he was also known to be the recipient of a Canada Council Grant in support of his travel, education and production of electronic music.Canada Council 1964-65: Eighth Annual Report, p. 62. This is also recorded in a Canada Council press release for June 21, 1965. It is subtitled "Council Scholarships granted to "89 Young Canadian Artists who have shown exceptional promise..." A further document provided my McMaster University Library included an untitled list including a listing for Terry Rusling amongst others which states: "Mr. Rusling (32) a sound engineer with the CBC, plans to visit electronic music laboratories in England and the French National Radio in Paris, and to spend additional time in Holland: to become an acknowledged "tonemeister" (one who works with a composer and operates complex technical equipemt to produce electronic sound. After receiving the grant he travelled to studios in the US and Europe. He continued his studies and composed music in studios at the Psycho Acoustic Institute at Ghent University, Belgium; the University of Utrecht; and the University of Illinois.University of Illinois @ Urbana Electronic Music Studio Archive: List_of_All_Items_Found_in_EMS_Archive: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/100315 He also did work at the University of Rochester with Wayne Barlow as well as in Paris where he studied with Pierre Schaeffer. He spent two months at the Phillips lab in Holland learning about their new electronic equipment. All of Terry's music was precisely notated using mathematics and other symbols. His music was often inspired by his interest in visual art. During this period Terry also reported on an interview on CBC Radio that he worked at the BBC Radiophonic. He specifically mentions Barry Burmage.
Broadcasts, exhibitions and performances Several of his works, including The Trains, a piece of musique concrète,CBC Archives Accession number 1990-0110; production date November 24, 1966; catalogue number 661124-9. Production credit: producer, Alan Anderson & Val Clery, music, Terry Rusling. "The tenth program in a series of thirteen documentary programs on the railroads of Canada and the people who work on them, including top executives and engineers." Also: Beatle show idea developed by fan,Regina Leader-Post, 5 February 1970, p. 18. were broadcast on the CBC and he composed an electronic theme for the nightly news."The CBC's daily National TV newscast for some years used a theme by Louis Applebaum and later employed an electronic composition by Terry Rusling." Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, ed. by Kallmann, Potvin & Winters (University of Toronto Press, 1981, Toronto, ) p. 478. One of his public performances of electronic music was at the Bohemian Embassy in Toronto October 1964. He also collaborated with visual artist Zbigniew Blazeje in a large multimedia exhibition in 1967 called Audio Kinetic Environment which began at the Art Gallery of Ontario and travelled to other galleries in Canada. The exhibit initially opened with music prepared by Blazeje. In an interview with Terry Rusling on CBC Radio, Rusling said that Blazeje approached him as he found the music he made was not good enough. Rusling stated he spent some time watching the kinetic installation and then proceeded to create a new score for the exhibition in Toronto and this music was used throughout the exhibit's tour of Canada. The installation toured to other galleries including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The music was set to trigger lights in the installation. On March 1 he was part of the crew involved in setting up the famous chess match between John Cage and Marcel Duchamp where a move on the chess board would trigger electronic music, This was part of Sightsoundsystems festival in 1968. There was also a radio program combining Rusling's music with Earle Birney's sound poetry on CBC Radio. After the piece was performed they discussed their personal approaches to their art forms. Birney discussed various approaches he took including sound poetry and using chance techniques, such as cutting phrases from newspapers including comics into bits of paper and finding combinations by chance. A related collaboration with poet Gwendolyn MacEwen, combining poetry with electronic music was also broadcast on CBC Radio. Rusling also worked with performance artist and sound poet Bob Cobbing and dancer Rima Brodie.The piece Rusling made with Bob Cobbing was broadcast on CBC during the same show where Birney and Rusling also collaborated. They also discussed Rusling's collaboration with Rima Brodie. CBC Archives.
Audio-Kinetic Environment Audio-Kinetic Environment, in collaboration with Zbigniew Blazeje with Terry Rusling providing electronic music.Regina Leader-Post, February 17, 1966, p. 3. The exhibition toured 11 cities with 12 showings:"Crucially, Smith proposed and realized a series of exhibitions in the three short years he was at the Art Gallery of Ontario, including Zbigniew Blazeje's Audio-Kinetic Environment (January 19–February 6, 1966)..." Albright–Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1965.New Brunswick Museum Archives & Research Library in their file contains a letter from Dorothy Cameron Gallery signed by Cameron which refers to the show at Albright-Knox and that Andy Warhol had said that he thought Blazeje was better than anyone in New York in the kinetic art field. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, January 20 – February 6, 1966Toronto Star, January 22, 1966, p. 27.The show was originally to be exhibited at the Dorothy Cameron Gallery. The Cameron Gallery was forced to close and the Art Gallery of Toronto picked up the show. Dorothy Cameron continued to seek new venues for this show even after closing. This is documented in a letter in the New Brunswick Museum archives from Brydon E. Smith, Assistant Curator of the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the Art Gallery of Ontario to Barry Lord, Curator of Art, New Brunswick Museum. Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, February 17 – March 10, 1966Regina Leader-Post, February 17, 1966"Sounds? Light Being Combined," "'The exhibition is in concert form, the music has been specially composed by Terry Rusling," Mr. Blazeje said. The same issue of the Regina Leader-Post also has an advertisement for the exhibit which adds 'New Improved' added to the title which likely refers to the addition of Terry Rusling's music. Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, March 24 – April 14, 1966In a letter from the New Brunswick Museum archives, Ronald J. Bloore, curator, reported that the exhibit "is breaking all attendance records at this gallery." Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, April 28 – May 19, 1966. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, June 28 – August 21, 1966."Toronto Gallery's Mondrian Exhibit, The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec, Quebec, Canada), Sat, Feb 19, 1966, Page 14. "In the centre of the room was a cluster of red and blue lights of various intensities, which were activated by electronic sounds from a tape prepared by Terry Rusling. Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Charlottetown, September 20 – October 9, 1966. New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, November 10 – December 11, 1966Press Release. Retrieved November 15, 2018 from Mary Kuna, Archives & Research Library, New Brunswick Museum, dated February 17, 1966. "Tape 1 features Terry Rusling's electronic music..." Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, January 6–29, 1967. UBC Fine Arts Gallery (now Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery) February 1 to 11, 1967 The installation was described in ArtsCanada February 1967 as follows: "Toronto artist Zbigniew Blazeje's Audio-Kinetic Environment, seen at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, last year (January 19 – February 2, 1966) consisted of about twenty-two panels and several moving pieces constructed of wood and plastic. All were coated with fluorescent and phosphorescent paints. Their colours were activated by the continuous play of a lighting system synchronized to taped electronic music patterns."ArtsCanada February 1967 A notice of the exhibit travelling throughout Canada was printed in Maclean's magazine."Who They? People talked about... that's who," Maclean's, February 19, 1966, p.2 "The one man show by Zbigniew Blazeje, lasted just about the same length of time. At least the demonstration part did. The works themselves, in their undemonstrated state, required much longer. Basically they are constructions of clear rectangular plastic plates, wood strips and bars on several parallel planes, having some of the bars painted in bright, strong luminous colours. Most of the pieces were wall-mounted, but there were some anchored and some suspended mobiles. In the centre of the room there was a cluster of red and blue lights of varying intensities, which were activated by electronic sounds from a tape prepared by Terry Rusling. In the darkened room, the works took on new colours, changing as the lights changed, and new shapes. Sometimes, depending on the rhythms from the track, they seemed to move within themselves. … Residents swamped the gallery on opening night 2000 strong — more than came for Picasso or Canaletto."The Gazette (Montreal, Canada) 19 February 1966, p. 14.
Other work His compositions are listed in International Electronic Music Catalog compiled by Hugh Davies (M.I.T. 1969). His compositions are also listed in an article in Dimensions magazine about University of Toronto Electronic Music Studios."University of Toronto Electroacoustic Music Studios" by Kevin Austin, dimensions i p.18. His scores were submitted to John Cage's Notations project and two items are included in the book and demonstrate his use of graphic notation. He composed incidental music for CBC radio shows such as Trains (1966)CBC Times, October 8–14, 1966 pp. 4–5 a documentary program on the railroads of Canada produced by Allan Anderson and Val Clery. He also composed incidental music for the TV show Telescope (TV series), in particular, an episode on Marshall McLuhan (1967).CBC Archives, Item number (ISN) 103464; Accession number 1986-0810, October 8–14, 1966 pp. 4–5. Another project Terry produced for CBC Radio was "On The Beatles." The show is described in the CBC's magazine RPM Weekly: "The show is a montage of dialogue, musical sound effects and electronic music. Rusling has chosen his own favourite Beatle songs over which he often superimposes electronic effects.RPM Weekly, volume 12, issue 25, February 7, 1970, page 9. Regina Leader-Post, 6 Feb. 1970, p. 7. addition to this he composed pure experimental music.
Compositions