Staff profiles and activity, Women in Computing

Electronic music pioneer

As well as running the Creative Computing programme at Goldsmiths, Mick Grierson directs the Daphne Oram Collection, an archive of audio, code, photographs, scores and papers relating to the electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram.

Daphne Oram (1925 – 2003) was one of the central figures in the development of British experimental electronic music. As co-founder and first director of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, she is credited with the invention of a new form of sound synthesis – Oramics. Not only is this one of the earliest forms of electronic sound synthesis, it is noteworthy for being audiovisual in nature – i.e. the composer draws onto a synchronised set of ten 35mm film strips which overlay a series of photo-electric cells, generating electrical charges to control amplitude, timbre, frequency, and duration.

“The Oramics machine is a device of great importance to the development of British electronic music,” explains Mick Grierson. “It’s a great shame that Daphne’s contribution has never been fully recognised, but now that we have the machine at the Science Museum, it’s clear for all to see that she knew exactly how music was going to be made in the future, and created the machine to do it.”