J. K. Randall collection

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id: 2966
origination: Randall, J. K., 1929-2014
date statement: 1944-2012 [bulk 1953-1999]
key date: 1944
identifier (local_mss): 18555
org unit: Music Division
call number: JPB 12-03
b-number: b19586925
total components: 283
total series: 3
max depth: 6
boost queries: (none)
component layout: Default Layout
Extended MARC Fields: false
Extended Navigation: false
created: 2013-04-01 15:04:37 UTC
updated: 2026-01-20 20:08:13 UTC
status note: (missing)
Display Aeon link: true

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unitid: {"value"=>"18555", "type"=>"local_mss"}

{"value"=>"JPB 12-03", "type"=>"local_call"}

{"value"=>"b19586925", "type"=>"local_b"}
unitdate: {"value"=>"1944-2012", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1944/2012"}

{"value"=>"1953-1999", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1953/1999"}
unittitle: {"value"=>"J. K. Randall collection"}
physdesc: {"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"45 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"14.87 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}

{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"15 computer files", "unit"=>"computer_files"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"108.7 gigabytes", "unit"=>"gigabytes"}]}

{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"35 audio recordings", "unit"=>"audio_recordings"}]}

{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"12 moving image recordings", "unit"=>"moving_image_recordings"}]}
repository: {"value"=>"Music Division"}
abstract: {"value"=>"James Kirtland (J. K.) Randall (1929-2014) was an American music theorist, composer, and early creator of electronic music. The bulk of his collection, dating from 1953 to 1999, consists of the composer's scores and other papers documenting his compositions. The remainder comprises Randall's personal files containing his writings, theoretical notes and analyses, correspondence, and concert programs. There are also audio and moving image recordings of his compositions as well as two interviews with Randall."}
langmaterial: {"value"=>"English"}
origination: {"value"=>"Randall, J. K., 1929-2014", "type"=>"persname"}
bioghist: {"value"=>"James Kirtland Randall (1929-2014) was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music from 1934 to 1947, and subsequently attended Columbia University (B.A., 1955), Harvard (M.A., 1956) and Princeton (M.F.A., 1958). He studied piano with Leonard Shure and composition with Herbert Elwell, Thad Jones, Roger Sessions and Milton Babbitt. From 1958 to 1991 he taught at Princeton, where he was professor of music. He was a founding member of the American Society of University Composers and wrote articles on composing and music theory for several journals, notably Perspectives of New Music, some of these were collected in the monograph Compose Yourself: A Manual for the Young (Open Space, 1995). He also collaborated with Benjamin Boretz on the book Being About Music: Textworks 1960-2003 (Open Space, 2003). From the early 1960s into the 1970s, Randall engaged principally in computer synthesis of sound and, with Godfrey Winham, developed facilities for this at Princeton University. His tape compositions were generated by the MUSIC IV B program, a version of MUSIC IV introduced at Princeton. He designed his own software \"instruments,\" which enabled him to specify every aspect of every sound and structure developments within single notes in ways that reflect principles of development used in whole compositions as, for example in Lyric Variations for Violin and Computer (1966-1968). In 1980 he turned his attention to improvised musical performance and began a series of explorations of spontaneous group performance, or \"real-time co-creation,\" involving many kinds of musicians and other artists (painters, dancers) as well. The ongoing efforts, preserved on hundreds of sound recordings and videotapes (under the project name Inter/Play), document the emergence of idiosyncratic group styles and performing conventions. Randall is himself a regular participant in these performances. In 1990, Randall, along with Elaine Barkin and Benjamin Boretz, started the publications series Open Space. Randall died in Princeton, New Jersey in 2014. -- Source: Elaine Barkin. \"Randall, J.K.\" In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/22867 (accessed March 14, 2012)."}
scopecontent: {"value"=>"The J.K. Randall collection, dating from 1944 to 2012, primarily contains scores and other papers documenting Randall's compositions. In addition to notes, sketches, manuscript drafts, final manuscripts, and printed scores, the papers have a large component of computer code printouts for the work Randall did in the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, when he was concentrating on computer sound synthesis and composition incorporating computers. Documented works from this era include Lyric Variations for Violin and Computer, Eakins, Bell, Horsehigh, Connect, and Prelude 1A and 2A. The collection also holds scores for Randall's early and later works for voice, piano, keyboard and other instrumentations, including the GAP series for piano, 9 Salon Pieces for Yamaha DX-100, Svejk, and Shouldn't We Talk. The remainder of the collection is comprised of Randall's personal files containing his writings, theoretical notes and analyses, correspondence, and concert programs. The writings include drafts, final versions and rejected content for the essays and collections How Music Goes, Compose Yourself: A Manual for the Young, and Tonality, as well as lectures, speeches, course descriptions, and papers Randall wrote as a student. The correspondence makes up only three folders in the collection, but holds letters from Aaron Copland, Otto Luening, and the American Society of University Composers. The collection also has audio and moving image recordings. The bulk of the audio recordings were created by Randall's improvisational group Inter/Play and were recorded from 1980 to 1986. There are also some audio recordings of Randall's compositions from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s."}

{"value"=>"The J. K. Randall collection is arranged in three series:\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/18555#c114062'>Series I: Compositions</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1944-2006</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series contains scores, sketches, sketchbooks, notes and computer code printout for Randall's compositions. Although he wrote for a variety of instrumental settings including chamber groups, brass and woodwind quintets, string quartets, and solo instruments, Randall remains best known for his pioneering work with computer sound synthesis and composition. Works for computer realization (or that have a component of computer realization) date from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. For these pieces, Randall regarded the computer coding (using either the Music IV or Fortran languages) to be more accurate representations of the music than sound recordings made at the time of creation. Folder contents for these compositions can include preliminary written notes and sketches, followed by code printout, but in some cases only code printout exists. The composition with the most documentation is Lyric Variations for Violin and Computer (1965-1968). The piece contains 20 variations, and there are written sketches and final scores for the violin part, preliminary notes and sketches for the computer component, and extensive code printout. Randall made multiple attempts at achieving the sound he wanted, and several different code printouts exist for each variation. Randall's notes in pen on the first page of printout usually designate the variation in question. The first few lines of code also provide clues to identification, as they list Randall as author and have a field for title. Randall also wrote titles in ink along the stacked sides of the printout. Another piece for computer with extensive code printout is Eakins (1965), which was composed for a film about the artist Thomas Eakins. Other works for computer include Bell (1966), Bessel3 (1973), Chanrev1 (1968), Connect (1965), Horsehigh (1971), Oddrev1 (1968), and Prelude 1A and 2A (1965). Many of these have only code printout. Five pieces for computer composed in 1965 are labeled as having been recorded on \"Tanglewood tape 7/65.\" The five are Connect, Prelude 1A and 2A, Section, and Toronto1. Randall's works for acoustic instruments and/or voice date from his student days to the early 2000s. Earlier pieces include Piano Sonata (1944-1946), Suite for Piano (1953), Rodeo for Solo Violin (1951), Dance for Woodwind Quintet (1953), Quartet (for woodwinds, 1953), Choral Pieces (1955-1956), Fugues (1955-1956), and Five Monologues for Cello (1955). After his computer work of the early 1970s, Randall spent several years on the Troubador Project (1977-1980). These are collections of traditional European songs, but they also contain his adaptations of them for voice. His piano/keyboard works include …such words as it were vain to close… (1977); the GAP series (1993-2002), a set of eight pieces, published separately or in small collections; and 9 Salon Pieces for Yamaha DX-100 (1996). His later compositions used unusual instrumental combinations: Svejk (1995-1996) is for violin and marimba; and Shouldn't We Talk (2002-2003) is for baritone saxophone, drums and percussion. Randall's sketchbooks span his career from the late 1950s to 2006 (there are no books from the 1980s). They appear at the end of the series and often contain preliminary work on compositions found elsewhere in the series. They were stored in binders and some have dividers with titles. Three untitled/unidentified pieces also appear at the end of the series. There is one piece in the series not composed by Randall. This is Genwot Spectray by Hubert S. Howe (1965), written for computer.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/18555#c114218'>Series II: Personal Files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1954-2006</div>\n<div class='series-description'>Randall's personal files primarily hold his writings, theoretical notes and analyses. They also have a small quantity of correspondence and concert programs. The writings consist of drafts, manuscripts and rejected content for articles and essays, some of which were published. These include the essays \"How Music Goes,\" \"Tonality,\" and \"Halloween '82;\" the essay collection Compose Yourself: A Manual for the Young; music reviews published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer; an interview transcript with the composer Giacinto Scelsi; manuscripts of \"Three Lectures To Scientists\" (published in Perspectives of New Music); an undelivered speech titled Boston; descriptions for courses Randall taught at Princeton; and papers written while Randall was a student at Columbia and Harvard. The essay \"A Discovery on Livy\" concerns the Russian composer Sergei Taneiev. Randall's notes are primarily concerned with his work on computer sound production, but also include theoretical topics (Pitch Systems, Instrumental Overtone Spectra, Harmony Exercises), as well as his notes on a Symphony by Andrew Imbrie. The content of the notes varies. The folders can include written musical analyses and sketches, mathematical formulae, musical exercises and lecture notes, and written computer programming or code printout. They mostly do not contain textual explanations (folder titles were derived from envelopes the notes were contained in). The analyses include examinations of music by Milton Babbitt, Elliot Carter, Brahms, Haydn, Debussy, and Stockhausen. The correspondence includes letters from Aaron Copland, Otto Luening and the American Society of University Composers, and a rejected program proposal for the 1986 New Music America festival. The programs are for concerts at Princeton featuring Randall's music.</div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/18555#c1807813'>Series III: Audio and Moving Image Recordings</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1960s-2012</div>\n<div class='series-description'>This series, dating from the 1960s to 2012, contains audio and moving image recordings of Randall's compositions as well as two interviews with Randall. Most of the recordings consist of audio recordings made for distribution by Randall's improvisational group Inter/Play as well as audio recordings of his compositions from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. The series includes two moving image interviews with Randall about his work at his house in Princeton, New Jersey. The first interview was conducted by Dorota Czerner, who (with Russell Craig Richardson) also shot the interview, in 2011. The second interview, occurring in 2012, followed up on topics included or omitted from the first interview. It was led by Scott Burnham, then of the Princeton University Department of Music. Other unique recordings include an original audio recording of GAP7 (2001), a 1980 Inter/Play collaboration between Randall and Marjorie Tichenor called Breathe, and a 1981 moving image recording, \"Pinecone Game No. 1,\" of Randall and another person playing with pinecones.</div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
acqinfo: {"value"=>"Donated by James K. Randall in 2006. Two interviews donated by Ruth Randall at later unknown date."}
processinfo: {"value"=>"Processed by Matthew Snyder."}
accessrestrict: {"value"=>"Inquiries regarding audio and video materials in the collection may be directed to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound (recordedsound@nypl.org). Audio and video materials will be subject to preservation evaluation and migration prior to access."}
revisiondesc: {"value"=>"Eight additional moving image recordings donated by Ruth Randall, as well as four\n moving image recordings and thirty-five audio recordings donated by J. K. Randall in 2006,\n processed and finding aid revised by Amy Lau in", "date"=>"2025."}
date_start: 1944
keydate: 1944
date_end: 2012
date_inclusive_start: 1944
date_inclusive_end: 2012
date_bulk_start: 1953
date_bulk_end: 1999
extent_statement: 14.87 linear feet (45 boxes). 108.7 gigabytes (15 computer files). 35 audio recordings. 12 moving image recordings
prefercite: {"value"=>"J. K. Randall collection, JPB 12-03. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}

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J. K. Randall collection

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