Ruth White (composer)

Ruth S. White (September 1, 1925 – August 26, 2013) was an American composer known for her electronic music compositions. While most of her career was dedicated to educational recordings, she is best known for being an electronic music pioneer, owing to her early explorations of sound using the Moog synthesizer. The back cover of her 1971 release Short Circuits stated that “Ruth White is considered among today’s most gifted arbiters of what is termed ’the new music’”. Her early recordings 7 Trumps From the Tarot Cards and Pinions (1968), Flowers of Evil (1969), and Short Circuits (1970) all featured surprising uses of the Moog synthesizer as well as other electronic musical equipment. Biography Ruth White studied music and composition and received three degrees from Carnegie Tech in Pennsylvania. While she focused on classical training in Piano, she also studied violin, cello, harp, clarinet, and horn. Recognized as gifted early on, White eventually studied under American avant-garde composer George Antheil. White credits Antheil with making her fully aware of the principles of classical sonata form, which provided “the key to writing larger works that were logical and structurally