Composer Profile: Glynis Jones

As part of our #afemalecomposerday campaign marking International Women's Day, we highlight the life and work of composer Glynis Jones. 

Glynis Jones: ‘one day someone might be interested enough to carry things forwards and create something wonderful on these foundations.' (Delia Derbyshire on BBC Radiophonic Workshop)

A pioneer of electronic music and the experimental, and an advocate for women in music technology, Glynis Jones was an original member of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which was known for its creation of sound for programmes such as Doctor Who and Quatermass and the Pit. She worked by experimenting with sound; splicing and distorting tape loops and working with various computers in order to reproduce unusual sounds, which were used to compose music.

Glynis joined the Workshop in 1973, and in 1976 she produced the album Out of This World, on which some of her material appears. Her compositions also feature on the album The Radiophonic Workshop.

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop and Glynis' influence:

Until its unpopular closure in March 1998, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC. It was created to produce incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. Based in Maida Vale Studios, London, the workshop became the foundations of what we now understand as music technology; the work of Glynis and her team inspired a generation of composers to manipulate sound in ways that had never been heard before.

Glynis Jones' British Music Collection records can be found online here.