ABSTRACT
Electronic music activity in the United States during the early 1950s was neither organized nor institutional. Experimentation with tape composition took place through the efforts of individual composers working on a makeshift basis without state support. Such fragmented efforts lacked the cohesion, doctrine, and financial support of their European counterparts but in many ways the musical results were more diverse, ranging from works that were radically experimental to special effects for popular motion pictures and works that combined the use of taped sounds with live instrumentalists performing on stage.
