One Note, One Piece — Oversized Drop-Shoulder T-Shirt

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TEE-ART-RB-DER-01-M-BK T-Shirt

Piece

One Note, One Piece Oversized Drop-Shoulder T-Shirt

$ 2,345.00

Description

In November 1963 Derbyshire realised the Doctor Who theme at the Radiophonic Workshop by cutting and splicing a length of tape for every note; the BBC did not credit its staff. The print is those pieces and the sum they make.

A Author

Delia Derbyshire

B Subject

Musique Concrète

C Aesthetic

Diagram · Typographic

Exploration

Ron Grainer wrote a line of melody and some indications in words: clouds, swirls, wind. Derbyshire turned it into sound without a single synthesiser, because in 1963 there were none.

Each note was generated separately on a laboratory oscillator, recorded to tape, cut with a blade, the length of the piece measured to fix the duration, and spliced with adhesive in the right order. The bass is a plucked string slowed down. It was all assembled by hand and by eye, in a basement, over weeks.

When Grainer heard it he asked whether he had written it, because he did not recognise it. He wanted to share the rights with her and the BBC would not allow it: workshop staff were not credited.

She drew her staff salary. The theme has been playing for sixty years and is among the most recognisable there is.

It took thirty years for her name to appear anywhere.

Details