Archive: Around Town

Image courtesy of David BordenOn Thursday, October 2nd, 2014 at 6PM The History Center in Tompkins County and the Bob Moog Foundation unveil David Borden's Moog modular synthesizer as a welcome addition to the 'Switched On: The Birth of the Moog Synthesizer' exhibit.

Borden, founder of Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co. and Cornell University's Electroacoustic Music Center, to  As part of the unveiling, Borden offered insight into the provenance of this unique piece of electronic music history and share anecdotes on his time working as a composer and musician with Bob Moog and R. A. Moog, Co.
 
In 1963, Moog opened a storefront for his small electronic musical instrument factory in Trumansburg, NY. It was there that the Moog modular synthesizer and the iconic Minimoog were born. Designed in c. 1967, Borden's modular synthesizer was used by Bob Moog as a demonstration instrument until R. A. Moog Co.'s departure from Tompkins County in 1971. Moog then sold the modular synthesizer, along with other instruments, to Borden, who has played it ever since.
 
Borden (born Christmas Day 1938, in Boston Massachusetts) is an American Minimalist composer and electronic music pioneer and one of the first to beta-test Bob Moog's modular synthesizer systems and Minimoog instruments. He formed the first all synthesizer ensemble group called Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co. in 1969, after Bob Moog lent out his prototype synthesizers and allowed them to be blown up and repaired repeatedly in the process of learning patching techniques. Borden continues to perform both locally and nationally.
 
Telling the story of Bob Moog and the development of the groundbreaking electronic instruments bearing his name, Switched-On provides museum-goers an interactive, engaging opportunity to learn about this important chapter of our region's history. Based on a series of wide-ranging oral history interviews done with family members, colleagues, and contemporaries, and done in partnership with the Asheville, N.C.-based Bob Moog Foundation, the exhibition provides unparalleled insight into the unique genius of Bob Moog and the ways in which he ushered in a revolution in music. From the words of Herbert Deutsch and Bernie Worrell to Shirleigh Moog, David Borden, and many others, and featuring rare Moog instruments such as a vacuum tube theremin, a Trumansburg-era Minimoog, and an early Moog amplifier of which only three were ever sold, Switched-On is the first major exhibition on Bob Moog and Moog Synthesizers to occur in the region, and will run through May 31st, 2015.
 
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