Unsung Stories: Women at Columbia's Computer Music Center

Composer Yuriko Hase Kojima (Shobi University) joins us in conversation with electroacoustic music researcher Cathy Cox (Kunitachi College of Music). Together they take us through Kojima’s musical history, including her time at Columbia during the transition from the Electronic Music Center (EMC) to the Computer Music Center (CMC) in the mid-90s. Yuriko speaks about how electronics help her to realize the sounds in her mind that cannot be put to paper. The interview also touches on the importance that female compositional role models have had on her artistic development, including interactions with Betsy Jolas and Mari Kimura. [Special thanks to Cathy Cox for additional editing.]

Composer/sound artist Yvette Janine Jackson (Harvard University) speaks with music historian Amy Cimini (UC San Diego) about her time at Columbia’s CMC in the mid ‘90s, her fascination with splicing things together, and bringing attention to social issues and historical events through experimental sound. Their conversation covers, amongst many topics, narrative soundscape composition, and Yvette’s steady diet of radio drama and Charles Mingus, which has served as inspiration and fueled her radio operas.

Interviewed by composer Sky Macklay (Valparaiso University), singer-songwriter/guitarist Sondra E. Woodruff II speaks about her music, studies at Columbia, and involvement at the CMC. Sondra has toured with the Backstreet Boys, opened for Anthony Hamilton, performed with Taylor Swift, recorded with LL Cool J, and played guitar for Aaron Pfeiffer, Drew Vision, Bets, and Sara Ramirez. She is also co-director and co-founder of The SCALE Fellowship Program, to promote the advancement of Black women in music, especially in Pittsburgh.

Maverick Pril Smiley speaks with historical musicologist Brigid Cohen (New York University, FAS) about her early days working and making electronic music at the CPEMC (now CMC), and her compositions for theatre amongst other fascinating projects.

In conversation with musicologist Danielle Sofer, classical and electronic music composer Alice Shields speaks about her early life and influences, as well as the time she spent at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (CPEMC), which became Columbia University's Computer Music Center (CMC).