This talk takes as its focus the transformation of the turntable from a playback device to a musical instrument during the early years of hip-hop.  It will examine landmark innovations in turntable technique – including Grandmaster Flash's development of the clock theory method of mixing records and GrandWizzard Theodore's introduction of needle-dropping and scratching – as well as changes in turntable and mixer technology.  In doing so it will offer a framework for understanding the musical and social basis for the turntable's instrumentality and demonstrate how hip-hop went from being a performance practice to a musical genre in its own right.
Additional support: Musicology Division, School of Music

WILL-AM580 FOCUS interview with Mark Katz