Live electronic music

[citation needed] Percy Grainger, used ensembles of four or six theremins (in preference to a string quartet) for his two earliest experimental Free Music compositions (1935–37) because of the instrument's complete 'gliding' freedom of pitch.

[7] Cage's interest in live electronics continued through the 1940s and 1950s, providing inspiration for the formation of a number of live-electronic groups in America who came to regard themselves as the pioneers of a new art form.

[2] In Europe, Pierre Schaeffer had attempted live generation of the final stages of his works at the first public concert of musique concrète in 1951 with limited success.

[9] During the 1960s, a number of composers believed studio-based composition, such as musique concrète, lacked elements that were central to the creation of live music, such as: spontaneity, dialogue, discovery and group interaction.

The success of Oxygene and his large scale concerts which he performed attracted millions of people, breaking his own record for largest audience four times.

It has been part of the sound art world since the 1930s with the early works of John Cage,[24][25]) Source magazine published articles by a number of leading electronic and avant-garde composers in the 1960s.

British free improvisation group AMM, particularly their guitarist Keith Rowe, have also played a contributing role in bringing attention to the practice.