Real-Time Music 70 Years Ago

On the occasion of the 100th birthday of my teacher Haubenstock-Ramati there was an interesting panel discussion at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna (MDW). He was well known in the 1950/60s for his graphical notation in music. He gave musicians a lot of latitude for interpretation, and always saw musicians and composers as equals. Many of the musicians at the time were dissatisfied because their notes weren’t fixed and they always had to look for them themselves.

Haubenstock-Ramati was a pioneer of real-time music. But even though I am one of his students, I do not use his graphical notation in my compositions. So what did I learn from him? – Always be curious, and never stand still!