Robert Moog: A Remembrance
Who hasn't heard of a Moog Synthesizer? And how many of those correctly pronounce it "mogue" as in "vogue" or "rogue"? Fact is, everyone has heard of a Moog Synthesizer, even if they call it a "mood simplifier" (a subset that would include me, mainly because I happen to think it does simplify the mood. Not, of course, because I am a buffoon, like the others who call it that.)
I taught my precocious nephew how to play when he was but six or seven. And I taught myself on the Minimoog and then on the maximoog, for lack of better words, the granddaddy...which was housed at the University in Greensboro, along with a monster ARP. Wires and levers were the fashion in those earlier days.
The first one I played though was the Minimoog, which was made available for public use at Reliable Music, back when it was in the backroom of a pawn shop in downtown Charlotte. Early 70s.
While most people there were hogging the guitars, I was hogging the Moog. Several years would pass before I got the opportunity to goof with the classic Moog, which resembled a telephone switchboard with all the patchcords. A friend of mine was studying electronic music at UNC-Greensboro, and she let me come to the lab and goof around on it.
A few more years would pass, when my old friend, Ken Phillips (who had come for one of his always interesting visits) and I were walking down Mass. Ave in Cambridge, and on a pole outside the MIT campus was a flyer that said Moog and Ray Kurzweil were going to be presenting their latest creation.
My God. My jaw dropped open, and nothing seemed to make it close...as Ken and I sat and listened to what I believe was the first public display of the amazing Kurzweil keyboard, of which Bob Moog had a hand. Another decade would pass before I had my own...which I've never regretted, since it allowed me to create 20 or 30 tapes of music before passing it on to my dear musical wizard and friend, Woody, who is still having a blast with it, and probably has as many CDs.
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
I'm going to move this over to the music section before the night is out. Good work though.
2 - anonyMoses
Thanks!
3 - SFC Ski
Synth music is a double-edged sword, but Moog definitely played a huge role in shaping modern music.
4 - StoryCharms
I also remember those early days, and the news of Moog's passing is very sad. Your idea of a charity benefit is awesome, and I hope it gets the attention of the someone in the right cirlces. Ray Kurzweil, for example, is still going strong. I met him one time years back, and he was a cool guy. You should mail him: ray-at-kurzweiltech.com