Janet Beat facts for kids

Janet Eveline Beat (born 17 December 1937) is a Scottish composer, music teacher, and writer about music. She is known for her creative and pioneering work in electronic music.

Life and Musical Journey

Janet Beat was born in Streetly, Staffordshire, England. She started learning piano privately and later studied horn at the Birmingham Conservatoire. She then went to Birmingham University to study music, finishing her first degree in 1960 and a master's degree in 1968.

After her studies, Janet became a music teacher at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Her music has been played in many countries around the world.

Janet Beat is a pioneer in electronic music in Great Britain. She started creating "musique concrete" pieces in the late 1950s. Musique concrete uses recorded sounds from the real world, like nature or machines, and changes them to make music. Daphne Oram, another important electronic music pioneer, encouraged her work.

Janet's music is influenced by many things. She uses sounds from nature, industry, and music from different cultures around the world. She also uses music technology to explore new sounds and microtonality. Microtonality means using musical notes that are smaller than the usual half-steps on a piano. These ideas also influenced her music for regular instruments. For example, in "Study of the Object no 3" (1970) for voices, she created a "sound sculpture" using graphic scores. She also explored quarter-tone fingerings for the horn in "Hunting Horns are Memories" (1977). Janet is also interested in how time passes in music, experimenting with different rhythms and speeds playing at the same time.

Janet Beat's work is kept in the British Music Collection archive in Huddersfield. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow. She works with the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery as a special consultant.

Musical Works and Writings

Janet Beat writes music for many different things. She composes for instruments, electronic music just for tape, and also for instruments combined with tape or computers. She has written for orchestras, small groups of instruments (chamber ensembles), theatre, and films.

Selected Musical Pieces

Here are some of her musical works:

• After Reading 'Lessons of the War': A piece for violin and piano.
• "Dialogue" and "Krishna's Hymn to the Dawn": Two pieces for solo flute.
• "Capriccii vol 1": For piano.
• "Fanfare for Haydn".
• "Arabesque for guitar".
• "Vincent" Sonata: For solo violin.
• "5 Projects for Joan": For solo cello.
• "Fireworks in Steel": For solo trumpet.
• "Concealed Imaginings": For a group of five instruments (piano quintet).
• "String Quartet no 1": For four string instruments.
• "Harmony in Autumn": For four horns.
• "The Splendour Falls..": For three trumpets, three trombones, and a tuba.
• "En Plein Air": For a group of eight wind instruments.
• "Harmony in Opposites": For flute, viola, and harp.
• "Encounter": For flute, cello, and harp (a different version of the above).
• "Mexican Night of the Dead": For clarinet and violin.
• "Apsara Music 1": For three female voices.
• "Sylvia Myrtea": For four female voices.
• "Canite Tuba": For a mixed choir (soprano, alto, tenor, bass).
• "Piano Sonata".
• 5 Stücke: For oboe.
• Circe: For solo viola (1974).
• Equinox Rituals: Autumn: For viola and piano (1996).
• Piano Quintet: The Dream Magus: For viola with two violins, cello, and piano (2000).
• Gedenkstück für Kaethe: For clarinet and viola (2003).
• Study of the object no 3: For female choir.

Some of Janet Beat's music is published by Furore Verlag in Germany. You can find her unpublished music and recordings at The Scottish Music Centre.

Professional Articles and Writings

Janet Beat has also written many articles about music, including:

• Monteverdi and the Opera Orchestra of his Time: About music in Monteverdi's operas.
• Two Problems in Carissimi 's Oratorio Jephte: About specific challenges in a musical work by Carissimi.
• "An extension of vocal accompaniment to dance": About how singing can go along with dance.
• "The Composer Speaks: Janet Beat on Cross Currents & Reflections": An article where she talks about her own music.
• "Themes & Variations: A Discussion of Some parallels between Western Music and Chinese Scroll Painting": An article comparing Western music to Chinese art.
• "Endless Pleasure": An article in an exhibition catalog.

Awards and Recognition

Janet Beat has received several awards for her contributions to music.

• In 1962, she won the Cunningham Award.
• In 2019, she was given the first Scottish Women in Music Lifetime Achievement Award. This award is now known as the 'Janet Beat SWIM Lifetime Achievement Award' in her honor.