Futurism Ideals in the Music of John Cage, (2003) Senior Paper- Music 497
Posted: Monday, July 19, 2010
by Joy Kim
Futurism ideals in the music of John Cage
Parallels between the early 20 th century Italian art movement & John Cages music
An overview of the 5 styles of music of John Cage that were influenced by the different philosophies he came into contact with: Zen Buddhism, Confucianism/Taoist philosophy. This paper also examines the parallels between the early 20 th century Italian art movement of Futurism as explained by Luigi Russolo in his Futurist manifesto on the Art of Noise.
While people can hum a tune that others immediately recognize such as Vivaldis Spring from the Four Seasons, or Beethovens Fifth Symphony, when people are asked to sing a tune of John Cages, few could sing the melody line of his songs. Although, some could articulate the process of how he made the music. How was this one man one of the most influential of twentieth century music? He is best remembered for the ideas that fueled the compositions he wrote. I say that John Cage is a composer of auditory collages. Cage illustrated different philosophies aurally using musical notion, not necessarily creating consonant sounding chord progressions, but auditory collages. With each new discovery of man-made wisdom-- Futurism, Zen Buddhism, Confucian/Taoist philosophy with the I Ching Cage adjusted his compositions accordingly. Interwoven with these philosophies, were also five musical ideas that he expanded upon: " micro-macro cosmic form, " prepared piano, chance music, indeterminate music, and musique concrete. These five ideas shaped most, if not all, of modern twentieth century music.
In this paper I will discuss " micro-macro cosmic form " (that Cage invented) and the four other musical styles he expanded upon, using examples of his own work. Then I will briefly discuss how his work changed with the advent of each new philosophy he discovered: Futurism, Zen Buddhism, Confucian/Taoist philosophy with the I Ching and Indian philosophy. Above all, Cages music and some of his philosophy expresses the ideals of Futurism.
The biographer David Revill writes that Cage was employed at the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, where he was hired in 1938, and started as a composer-accompanist and organized a percussion ensemble (56). James Pritchett writes in The Music of John Cage, that Cage who had started out as a percussionist, then as an accompanist for the dance department at Cornish, aimed at creating music separate from the choreography (14). He was usually given the choreography, and then expected to write music to accompany it (Pritchett 14). Pritchett continues by saying that instead, he wanted to create music independent of choreography (14). So he came up with what is known as " micro-macro cosmic form " (14). Smith explains the " micro-macrocosmic form, " by saying that " [S]maller sections of the music would be derivative of the whole form of the music, or the " square root " of the total number of measures of the entire piece (36).
Kyle Gann writes: " For example his First Construction (in Metal) of 1939 was built up of phrases whose sixteen-measure units were divided 4+3+2+3+4 " (130).
In the second of musical forms, Cage expanded the use of the prepared piano.
Gann notes that " [t]he dancer Syvilla Fort asked Cage to create an accompaniment for her dance Bacchanale (130). Because of the small size of the Cornish schools stage, there was only room for a grand piano. With the one piano, Cage created the sounds of a whole percussion orchestra. He settled on securing bolts and screws " between the strings without falling out and placed weather stripping between the strings " (Gann 131).
Scanning through Revills Chronology of Works by Cage, one finds that Cage liked this sound so much, in fact, that he continued using the prepared piano technique in twenty-two more of his pieces, up until 1954. In this way, space was economized for a percussion ensemble and a piano was used instead (Revill 354-358).
The third concept that Cage expanded upon was through " chance music. "
Chance music was explored when he discovered Asian philosophy. Gann writes about how one of Cages composition students named Christian Wolff gave him a copy of the I Ching, or Book of Changes. The purpose of the I Ching oracle is to be " consulted to direct ones actions " (135). Cage, used the book of divination instead as a medium to guide him on decisions " for pitches, durations, dynamics " in his music (Gann 135). In the Prepared Piano Concerto, he again consulted the oracle for pitches for the orchestra and piano in the third movement. Gann emphasizes that the most heavily laden composition using the oracle is Music of Changes (1951) (Gann 135). Beyond getting consultation for pitches, he consulted the oracle for harmonic structure, rhythm and dynamics. Cage " tossed coins to decide where in his rhythmic structure each sonority or figure would occur and what rhythm or dynamics it would have " (Gann 135). Other chance compositions that used this technique according to Gann are- Etudes, Australes, Atlas Eclipticalis, Hymnkus, Europeras (135-136)
In conjunction with creating " chance music, " Cage, according to Gann, was encouraged to pursue a strange concept called indeterminacy (aleatory music) through the prodding of " his protgs Morton Feldman and Earle Brown " (136). On indeterminate work, Gann says that the difference between chance work and indeterminate work, is that " the randomness goes into the composition of the work; in an indeterminate work, the notation itself is ambiguous, so that different performances could arrive at quite different sonic " sounds (Gann 136). Gann continues on by saying Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1957-1958) signified a first in indeterminate work. Cage used the I Ching for note choices and for developing a new method of notation. The result is " eighty-four different types of notation " (Gann 136).
Cages last and fifth item of notoriety is his use of musique concrete. Stolba says that musique concrete literally means, " concrete music, " and that it first came to be used by Pierre Schaeffer (b.1910). Schaeffer described musique concrete as " music he composed directly on disc or tape by recording natural sounds that he manipulated by reversal, changes of speed or other editing " (Stolba 635). Stolba mentions that " [T]he " sounds were from natural (concrete) sources and the compositions were created directly on tape (concretely) rather than through notation that had to be interpreted by performers " (635). More specifically, Schaeffer determined that there were two ways to use musique concrete. They were: " conventional and concrete composition " (Manning 22). The first choice was between having a pre-determined/imagined sound in mind, and work with the prerecorded (concrete) materials in the studio to create the sound. The other option would be for a composer to start with a group of " sound sources, " and experimenting with those sounds " for a complete composition, " and creating a composition organically (Manning 22).
Peter Manning in Electronic and Computer Music continues by saying that in New York (1948), Louis and Bebe Barron experimented with magnetic tape, " playing recordings of instruments backwards and forwards " and took note of the sounds effects found in splicing and juxtaposing sounds (87). John Cage inquired on their findings, and in 1951 gathered together a group of musicians to make music directly on to tape. Manning explains how Cage worked with " the Barrons, Earle Brown, Morton Feldman, David Tudor, and Christian Wolff, " the end result became known as Music for Magnetic Tape " (87).
With all of these five types of music-- micro-macro cosmic form, prepared piano, chance music, indeterminate music, and musique concrete, beg the question, " What or who influenced John Cage to compose the kind of music that he made? " There are three main sources from his life that impacted him to write music the way he did. They are his family who first introduced him to music, the writings of the Futurists (esp. Luigi Russolo), Zen Buddhism and Indian (Asian) philosophy. Of the three, Futurism ideals outweigh the others in influence on his music.
The Influence of His Family
First a condensed biography of his early years will show the musical background/teaching that influenced him. David Revill writes in The Roaring Silence John Cage: A Life, that his parents were John Milton Cage senior and Lucretia Harvey. She was the pianist at First Methodist Episcopalian Church where John seniors dad was pastor (19). Cage was an excellent student in all subjects (22). Revill notes that s a young child, Cage was magnetically drawn to music (23). At the age of five his mom took him to a symphony orchestra concert, and he was entranced by the sounds. Cage also liked the music at the church too. He loved to hear his Aunt Marge sing (Revill 23). On Cages musical teaching, Revill notes that Cage focused on learning the violin for a short time, then switched to piano. His second teacher " was his Aunt Phoebe James. He studied the work of Moritz Moszkowski (1854-1925) who wrote mainly for piano, and he studied other composers through a tutor entitled Music the Whole World Loves to Play (24). Through his teacher and this book he was enchanted with playing the music of Grieg ( " all those fifths " ) (Revill 24). Revill quotes Cage saying, " For a while I played nothing else. I even imagined, " he remembered, " devoting my life to the performance of his works alone, for they did not seem to me to be too difficult, and I loved them " (Revill 24-25).
At the age of twelve, Revill says that Cage had his first performance with radio. Later Cage was to work with radio in many of his compositions, in his musique concrete pieces. In 1925, Cage dreamed up a " Boy Scout Radio program, " where other Boy Scouts would come on the show and play musical instruments, sing or " speak about building fires and tying knots " (27). The show aired on KNX (owned by Los Angeles Evening Express and Paramount Pictures) ( Revill 26). If Cage ran out of fellow Boy Scouts, Revill notes that Cage would play solos from Music the Whole World Loves to Play (27). The show was a huge success all the way up through 1926 and there was loads of fan mail to read (Revill 27, 30). After Cage was bumped off the show by the official " Boy Scouts " and after a couple of broadcasts, KNX closed the show (Revill 30).
In a detailed account, Revill speaks on Cages early years as a young man searching for direction. After high school, he gave serious thought to " following in his grand fathers footsteps, to become a minister in the Methodist Episcopalian Church " (Revill 31). In the mid nineteen twenties, Cage attended Pomona College in Claremont (31). He then changed his mind to pursue writing the second year (Revill 33). Cage then became disenchanted with the school system, when during an assignment he saw every student reading out of the same textbook. He chose an entirely different approach and picked at random " the first book written by an author whose name began with Z " (34). Revill says that Cage read other materials at random, " preparing by that means for his examinations He was given an A " (34). He figured something was wrong with the system so he left in June 1930 (Revill 34). His parents gave him money for Europe, and he sailed to France (35). While there, Revill notes that Cage met up with one his former professors at Pomona, who encouraged him to study with the modern architect Erno Goldfinger (35). Overhearing Goldfinger speak to some lady friends one day that one needed " complete commitment, " in studying architecture (Revill 36). " Cage felt strong attractions to other things- poetry, painting and music. So he did not feel he could dedicate his life to a single discipline, and he earnestly said so to Goldfinger. He left the company soon afterward " (Revill 36-37). He wandered around North Africa and Europe for a time before returning to the United States. He " moved into his parents home. Cage continued " writing and painting " and " worked through a new compositional method, improvising in relation to texts (Revill 37). Cage set to music experimental writings from Transition magazine texts by Gertrude Stein, and choruses from the Persians by Aeschylus. He also wrote an Allemande and in 1932, despite renouncing his religious vocation songs from Ecclesiastes, which were lost until the late eighties ( Revill 37).
Revill continues on with on noting how hardship with finances led Cage and his parents to move into an apartment in Los Angeles (39). Eventually, Cage moved out. While working as a gardener and cook, he decided to teach housewives about painting and music (Revill 39) He went door-to-door advertising a " series of lectures on modern art, ten for $2.50 " (Revill 39). Self-educated, Cage grew and learned all the up-to date information on art and music. " I came out of these lecture, " he stated, " with a devotion to the painting of Mondrian, on the one hand, and the music of Schoenberg on the other " (Revill 39).
When Cage wanted to give a lecture on Schoenberg, there were no recordings. He found " a minuet of the Suite for Piano, opus 25, the music was too difficult for him to play. Richard Buhlig sprang to mind; Cage decided to ask him for help in person " (Revill 40). Buhilg decided against the venture, yet agreed to take a look at some of Cages compositions (40). Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, notes that, Buhling then " introduced him to Cowell " (796). Cage studied counterpoint with him, learning " non-Western, folk and contemporary music at the New School for Social Research " (796). Next, " Cowell suggested that he study with Adolph Weiss in New York with an aim towards studying with Arnold Schoenberg " (Groves 796).
" Henry Cowell looked at my work, " Cage remembered, " and told me that of all the living masters, the best one for me would be Schoenberg " (Revill 45) Many composers impressed Cage; Grieg in his youth, and now Cowell, and of course there was Varese, Satie, Ives " and for a while, Boulez " (45). Revill notes that Cage had to decide between what he thought were two schools the Schoenberg and Stravinsky school. Cage had wanted to study with Schoenberg for the longest time, and hearing Cowells agreement, settled it in his mind who he was to study with (45). " Since there were gaps in his musical training, Cowell proposed he first study in New York with Adolph Weiss. As the spring of 1934 drew to a close, Cage hitched his way across the country on an eastbound freight train " (Revill 45). Tomkins mentions how " Schoenberg questioned whether Cage could afford to study with him. " I told him, " Cage has said, " that there wasnt any question of affording it, because I couldnt pay him anything at all. He (Schoenberg) then asked me whether I was willing to devote my life to music, and I said I was. In that case, he said, I will teach you free of charge " (Tomkins 84- 85). Revill says that the impact of Arnold Schoenberg was enormous on John Cage. Cage has said of him, " I studied counterpoint at his home and attended all his courses at USC and later at UCLA when he moved there. I also took his course on harmony " (Revill 48).
Revill continues by saying " [S]choenberg would never look at Cages compositions. When he once presented a long fuge subject, the only comment Schoenberg made was to tell him to save it for his first symphony. Any comments Cage made on the work of his fellow students, Schoenberg would ridicule. When Cage tried to inquire about the twelve-tone composition, which Schoenberg made a point of never teaching, he said, " Thats none of your business " (Revill 49). Only years later Cage was to hear any encouragement from Schoenberg (49). Revill says that " Peter Yates told Cage that he had once asked Schoenberg if any of his pupils in America had been interesting (Revill 49). In a letter, he had named Lou Harrison among others, but not Cage (49). To Yates, Schoenbergs immediate reply was that there were none, but then he had smiled and mentioned Cage, saying, " Of course hes not a composer, but an inventor-of genius " (Revill 49).
The Influence of Futurism
This leads us to see the influence of Futurism. Beckwith writes in Ideas About the Future, " n its most general use, the term futurism connotes all forecasts of future events. It covers nave, unscientific prophecies as well as scientific predictions (Beckwith 1).
The other type of Futurism described by David Ernst, was the movement that encompassed " painting, sculpture, poetry, drama, opera, dance, music, and cinema " (xxiii). Ernst points out that most Futurists were involved with one or more of these disciplines (xxiii). Umbro Apollonio in Futurist Manifestos tells us that F.T. Marinetti wrote The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism in 1909 (19). Surrounding Marinetti were a group of followers; painters such as Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra, Giacomo Balla, Gino Severiniand Luigi Russolo who wrote The Art of Noises (Apollonio 24, 74). Apollonio points out that in Marinettis Manifesto of Futurism (1909), Marinetti calls for eleven ideas-they are to (a) " sing of the love of danger, " (b) " courage " and " revolt will be essential elements of our poetry, " (c) to esteem highly " literaturethat exalts action, the mortal leap, the punch and the slap " (Marinetti 21) (d) the world has been graced with " a new beauty: the beauty of speed (e) to sing the praises of the " man behind the wheel, " who races across the earth, (f) the poet must labor with much intensity and grandeur to add to the " fervor of the primordial elements, " (g) except in hardship, and adversity, " there is no beauty . No work without an aggressive character can be a masterpiece " (Marinetti 21).(h) The twentieth century is the one that can foresee all future events! " Time and Space died yesterday. We already live in the absolute, because we have created eternal, omnipresent speed " (Marinetti 22). (i) War is the ultimate- " the worlds only hygiene-militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman " Marinetti 22). Marinetti closes with this last rallying cry of the Futurists by saying, " We will sing of great crowds excited by work, by pleasure, and by riot; then he praises the new industrialism of " shipyards, railway stations, trains, and factories, " and gives them anthropomorphic descriptions (Marinetti 22).
Ernst goes on to say that " [Out on street corners, people would read the poetry and the manifestos of the Futurists And in 1910, the result was for a few years, " short, one-act plays that often employed nonsense speech or dramatic visual effects " (Ernst xxiii). Ernst goes on to say that the Futurist exalted machines, they were put on pedestals, with the attributes of speed and strength, highlighted (xxiii). On the darker side, Futurists advocacy of war, and the destruction of historical monuments, created fertile ground for Mussolini and the Fascists, who then later left Italy in the ash-heap after the war (Ernst xxiii). He continues by saying that there was turmoil in Italy between the Futurists and the monarchy because of the monarchys support of the Catholic Church (xxiii). The Futurists thought that the church would be a hindrance rather than help in creating a new Italy with " political, economic, and social reforms " (Ernst xxiv). Mussolini stepped on the scene and promised for reform in the guise of a " tendentially [sic] republican Fascism " (xxiv). Ernst concludes, what the Italians got instead was a dictatorship that went in the opposite direction of the Futurist ideals (xxiv).
Beyond the echoes of Futurism in Cages musical examples, as shown alongside the seven ideals by Russolo, Cage also had similar philosophical ideas as well. Humphreys notes that the majority of Futurists were writers and painters. And the philosophies they held were based on the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and Henri Bergson (1859-1941).
Humphreys writes that Nietzsche who announced that " God was dead, " (1882), also wrote other texts that the Futurists molded to shape their ideology. The one work in particular, The Will to Power by Nietzsche, attempted to cut through the disjointed " rationalism of modern culture and morality, to go beyond good and evil " (Humphreys17). The similarities between Cage and Nietzsche, in going " beyond good and evil, " are similar and end there. Gann notes these similarities when he wrote that " One aspect of Cages thoughtis that he came to regard value judgments-distinctions between good and bad-as even unnecessary and even harmful (Gann 138).
This leads us back to how Futurism influenced music. Calvin Tomkins writes in The Bride and the Bachelors, " [t]here was a lot of interest in percussion music during the 1920s " (86). The Italian Futurist manifesto by Luigi Russolo in 1913 clamored for attention by rallying for musicians to create what he called the " art of noises " (Tomkins 86). Tomkins goes on the say " [E]dgard Varese had, as Cage put it, " fathered forth noise into twentieth-century music " Vareses famous score Ionization, with parts for forty-one percussion instruments and two sirens, was written in 1931- and some of Henry Cowells work came close to pure noise music (86).
Russolo described Futurism in The Art of Noises. In writing to Balilla Pratella, he says: " Ancient life was all silence. In the nineteenth century, with the invention of the machine, Noise was born " (74). He then summarizes the invention of sound from antiquity of the Greeks who " calculated mathematically by Pythagorus and according to which only a few consonant intervals could be used, limited the field of music considerably, rendering harmony, of which they were unaware, impossible " (Russolo 75). Russolo then traces the course of music through the Middle Ages and the " consonant perfect chord, " and mentions " passing dissonances " that interspersed with the " consonant chord, " to the complicated and persistent dissonances that characterize contemporary music (Russolo 75). He says that in the beginning music strove to be consonant or to have " sweetness of sound " (75) Russolo states that today there is more dissonance and harmonies are mixed. The sound of the dissonance is very hard on the ears and, as Russolo points out, " [w]e come ever closer to " noise sound " (75). Russolo mentions with the advent of machines, (a new terminology) has come into being (75). Russolo states, " [n]ot only in the roaring atmosphere of major cities, but in the country too, which until yesterday was normally silent, the machine today has created such a variety and rivalry of noises that pure sound, in its exiguity and monotony, no longer arouse any feeling " (75). He goes on to say that modern life has prepared our ear to be able to hear all kinds of discordant sounds (75). This he calls " MUSICAL NOISE " [sic] (75). Russolo continues by saying that the range of what sounds are made possible needs to be expanded (76). He then mentions a fullness of sound with " Beethoven and Wagner, " yet seeking " MORE ENJOYMENT IN THE COMBINATIONS OF THE NOISES OF TRAMS, BACKFIRING MOTORS, CARRIAGES AND BAWLING CROWDS THAN IN REHEARING, for example THE EROICA [sic] (Russolo 76).
The music of John Cage identifies closely with the ideals that he read about from the Futurist Luigi Russolo. I will demonstrate that Cages compositions align themselves with seven out of the eight ideals found in The Art of Noises by Russolo by providing examples from Cages work. From these examples, we will see that the philosophy found in Futurism permeated Cages work. Russolos writes on eight ideals, and after each of the first seven, there will be examples of Cages work listed.
Russolo writes in the Art of Noises:
1. Futurist musicians must continually enlarge and enrich the field of sounds. .
He mentions a shift from pure sound to thatof " noise sound " and the (substitution of music for sounds) (Russolo 86).
With the music scores that I had available I will show a few excerpts from Cages music that embody this ideal of " noise sound " (Russolo 86). These examples include the use of prepared piano, in works such as Bacchanale, Music for Marcel Duchamp, A Book of Music, prepared piano in the Sonatas and Interludes, A Room (with or without preparations) for piano, and the ambient noises that occurred in 433 " .
Alan Rich writes that: " Cage had the idea he had previously heard demonstrated in some of Henry Cowells atmospheric pieces, of preparing the piano by imposing small foreign objects--nails, screws, various pieces of hardware, feathers--onto or between the strings of a grand piano, thus canceling out the exact pitch of a string and producing a hazy; pitchless percussive sound-a cross between an out of tune harpsichord and an Indonesian gamelan " (148).
Imagine the following score for piano sounding with a different timber than piano, and sounding like a muted drum, one would be relatively close to what Russolos idea of " enlarging the field of sounds " (Russolo 86).
Here is an example of Bacchanale with preparation on the piano.
David Revill notes how " [T]he Music for Marcel Duchamp was written as accompaniment for the color animation sequence in the move by Hans Richter, Dreams that Money Can Buy, using a rhythmic structure of 2/1/1/3/1/2/1 measured to fill exactly the duration of the sequence " (93). Again, Cage employs the use of the prepared piano for this work, and creates an entirely different sound with the piano, thereby expanding the function of a very ordinary instrument!
A third example of the use of the prepared piano is A Room (1943). Cage notes in the original score that " [t]he piece is the third part of " She is Asleep " , an unfinished work, the three parts may be played in any order and one or more may be omitted " (Cage i). The joke is on us, because when one looks at the score, there are only two pages, with musical notation on the alto clef, and three more blank pages! The example to the left is from the right column from the Table of Preparations from A Room.
Rich says that Cage was originally inspired to compose 433 " , from the visual arts (142). A friend named Robert Rauschenberg did a series of white paintings. Rauschenberg wondered how his paintings looked in the " changing light in the rooms in which they were hung, " and whatever else might happen in the environment with onlookers, so Cage conceived 433 " , as a work, at the mercy of the environmental sounds within and in spite of the audience, at each performance (Rich 142).
Gann notes that " 433 " premiered of the Maverick Concert Hall in Woodstock, New York, 1952. David Tudor " closed the keyboard lid and opened it again three times to indicate the beginnings and endings of the three movements " (Gann 127). Kyle Gann continues to say that 433 " represents the opposite of the European concept of " personality centered, self-expressive " music (127).
In his second ideal, Russolo says that:
2. Futurist musicians " must " replace the " tones " produced by an orchestra with a " variety of tones of noises, reproduced with appropriate mechanisms (Russolo 87).
With the advent of new technology with electronic music, Cages compositions embody this ideal. Eric Salzman in his article, Imaginary Landscaper says that: " [C]ages interest in unusual and nontraditional instrumentation led him early on to experiment with the new recording technologies " (3). Salzman continues by saying that Cage used test-tone recordings around 1939 " on variable speed turntables to produce a kind of electronic music before its time " (3). The first Imaginary Landscape came out during this time (Salzman 3). Salzman goes on to say that " Imaginary Landscapes. No. 4 in this series was the infamous piece for 12 radios where the sound was whatever happened by chance to be on the air at the time of the performance. At the premier in New York in 1952, one of the dial twirlers-following Cages " score " of instructions happened upon a classical-music station playing Mozart, prompting several scoffers in the audience to shout " Leave it on! " (Salzman 3).
According to Ernst, Fontana Mix (1958), was created at a Milan Studio (37). Ernst goes on to describe the work as " a tape collage consisting of speaking, singing, instrumental music, electronically generated sounds, environmental sounds, barking dogs, and many other such sounds " (37). Ernst mentions that " [T]ransposition and reversal frequently occur, but splicing is the most heavily used technique " (37).
Russolo mentions that Futurist musicians must
2. Replace " traditional rhythm " with noise which has in itself a combination of rhythms (Russolo 87).
James Pritchett says " Rhythmic structure is one of the continuing threads in his work: the conception of compositions or performances as time-structures remained with him for the rest of his life " (13). Pritchett then goes on to mention how the 1948 autobiographical lecture " A Composers Confessions " Cage explains " the two reasons that he came to base his music on duration structures " (13). When Cage worked with dancers, he would usually " write the accompaniment for a dance after the choreography was completed " (Pritchett 13). " The dancer would give him the " measures " of the dance: so many bars of 4/4 meter followed by so many bars of 5/4, and so on. Cage would then write music to fit these phrase lengths. Thus, his compositional structure was completely dictated by the choreography " Cage wanted to find a different way
( Pritchett 13-14) " These counts [of the dancers choreography] were nearly always, from a musical point of view, totally lacking in organization.I believe this disorder led me to the inception of structural rhythm " (Pritchett 14).
Cages invention of " micro-macro cosmic form, " as mentioned earlier demonstrates this concept. Stuart Saunders Smith writes in The Early Percussion Music of John Cage
" [T]he macro-structure is an enlarged image of the micro-structure or, the micro-structure is a smaller image of the macro-structure " (36). Smith continues by showing how the derivative formula " works can be found in Imaginary Landscape 3, written in 1942, for six percussionists performing on an audio frequency oscillator, ten empty tin cans, an electric buzzer, muted Balinese gongs, and a radio aerial coil attached to a phonograph pick-up arm " (Smith 36). Smith goes on to say in further detail that " [T]he rhythmic structure of the work is 12 x 12 (3, 2, 4, 3). This means that the rhythmic structure of the entire composition is based on twelve repetitions of a twelve-measure phrase structure divided into three, two, four, and three measure phrases. " (36)
4. To create instruments that " imitate a variety of tones, semitones, and quarter-tones. " From a " GENERAL PREDOMINATING TONE [sic](Russolo 87).
In Cages works, James Pritchett writes: " [T]he first three Imaginary Landscapes (1939-1942; the fourth and fifth were written in 1951-52) have in common the use of various electronic devices as instruments " (20). Then in technical terms, Pritchett describers, " [T]he electronics battery in Imaginary Landscape No.1 " has " two record turntables playing recordings of test tones (either constant frequencies or varying ones) " (20). A person can then choose one of two speeds in which to play the record (33 1/3 or 78 rpm) all with the help of a clutch (Pritchett 20). Rhythms are made " by lifting and lowering the record needle " (20). Further one, Pritchett writes that the sound " effect of the pitch sliding when the turntable speed is changed is striking and eerie, and Cage has heightened this, " by putting together " the frequency recordings with other " dark sounds: " cymbal tremolos, the bass strings of a piano played with a soft gong beater, and three piano notes mutted with the finger " (20).
5. Creating these tone splitting instruments then " rotating " them " for instance, we will increase or decrease the speed. And if standing still, the instruments " will vary in size and tautness " (Russolo 87).
Examples of Cages work that demonstrates " tone splitting, " are his pieces that employ the musique concrete technique (Russolo 87). David Ernst writes that Cage used musique concrete in Williams Mix (1952), which was a " tape collage " (26). Cage put together different sounds that wouldnt ordinarily be found right next to each other, such as sounds of the " city, country, and wind-produced sounds, electronic and small sounds requiring amplification and preexisting musical compositions " (Ernst 26). Ernst notes that, " [R]ather than structuring this piece on a predetermined progression of timbral transformations, Cage employed chance operations and the I Ching Book of Changes in order to determine the succession of sounds " (26).
David Revill writes how Improvisation IV (1983) was written " for three cassette players using machines equipped with a device designed by John Fullemann which allows one to change the playback speed from slow to fast " (364).
6. " The new orchestra will stir people " not by incorporating or succession of life imitating noises, but by manipulating fantastic juxtapositions of these varied tones and rhythms " (Russolo 87).
With Cages Child of Tree (1975), and Inlets (1977) Cage follows Russolos ideals of mixing life noises and juxtaposing them with " varied tones and rhythms " (Russolo 87).
Pritchett writes that Cage used " improvisation in his own work " (194). Pritchett notes " n Child of Tree, a single player performs using amplified plant materials " (195). Pritchett continues by saying, " Cage mentions two of the ten " instruments " to be used: a pod from a poinciana tree and a cactus, this latter being played by plucking the spines with a toothpick or needle " (195). Cage gives highly specific directions " to the performer on how, via chance operations, to divide the eight-minute length of the piece into parts " (Pritchett 195). Pritchett says of Cages work " Inlets is similar, although there is no fixed time structure " (195). In the composition, " three players each have four conch shells of gradated sizes, each filled with water " (Pritchett 195). The shells " are played by tipping the shells " this way or that, " an operation which will produce audible gurgles (these are amplified in performance) " (Pritchett 195). Cage gives no hint on performance time, " nor any particular division of that time, only that each shell should be played for a longer time as the piece progresses " (Pritchett 195). Pritchett concludes by saying, that " [T]wo other elements enter the work: halfway through the performance, the players should become silent for a time, during which time a tape recording of burning pine cones is faded in " (Pritchett 195).
7. With each machine, there are " a thousand different noises " with the advent of more machines the number of noises " multiplies " as well " NOT MERELY IN A SIMPLY IMITATIVE WAY, BUT TO COMBINE THEM ACCORDING TO OUR IMAGINATION [sic] (RUSSOLO 87).
Lastly, Manning says, " Cages Music for Amplified Toy Pianos and Cartridge Music, both composed in 1960, set a favorable tone to the era (196). Peter Manning carefully describes that " n the first piece a single performer plays any number of toy pianos to which contact microphones have been fitted. In the latter, gramophone cartridges, into which all manner of objects have been inserted, and contact microphones attached to any responsive surface, provide a rich, if somewhat unusual, source of material " (Manning 196). To the listener, the auditory result is at times, a type of musique concrete (Manning 196).
Revill writes " Cartridge Music was for " amplified small sounds, " a further transparency score from which the player or players assemble directions for making audible otherwise indiscernible sounds " (198). Revill continues by writing that to get the desired effect, " Cage increased the use of phonograph cartridges, which had been a feature of the second and third Imaginary Landscapes, to orchestral proportions, suggesting the players insert feather, lengths of wire, toothpicks, pipe cleaners, small twigs, wire coils or nails " (198). Of the first performances, " for instance, featured a tiny Japanese cocktail parasol and a miniature Stars and Stripes " (Revill 198). Revill goes on to say that at another performance of Cartridges, in 1961 " Cage was to speak in Brooklyn at the Evening School of the Pratt Institute. He used Cartridge Music to structure four different speeches which may be given in whole or part, on their own or with any two, any three or all four playing simultaneously, with any number of the speeches delivered as a recording " (Revill 199).
Lastly, the eighth ideal of Russolos pertains solely to a fantastic vision of new cities, only to be realized in his imagination. There was little in common with the music of John Cage.
8. " nvite " a group of " musicians " to determine and examine noises, and " Their principal, secondary tones. " Then a study will be done to measure up side by side " tones of noises " and " those of sounds, " This is done with the hope of transforming people to have " Futurist ears. " The end goal, ; to " attune " " industrial cities, " so that every factory will be transformed into an intoxicating orchestra of noises. (Russolo 87).
In Cages Silence, (1960) a book of his past lectures and writings, Cage spoke these words in Seattle, The Future of Music: Credo (1937) " I believe that the use of noise to make music will continue and increase until we reach a music produced through the aid of electrical instruments which will make available for musical purposes any and all sounds that can be heard " (3). Cage was a true prophet of what was to come in the advent of electronic music. He goes on to say, " [P]hotoelectric, film, and mechanical mediums for the synthetic production of music will be explored " (Cage 4). Then he mentions what I see as the parallel between his own music and the music of the Futurists, " [W]hereas in the past, the point of disagreement has been between dissonance and consonance, it will be, in the immediate future, between noise and so-called musical sounds " (Cage 4). Music expanded all the more because of his readings of Russolo and taking those ideals of futurism to the next level. Yet there were other influences that shaped that way that he conceptualized music.
The Influence of Zen Buddhism and Indian Philosophy
Revill writes that Cage was introduced to Zen Buddhism through the lectures of D.T. Suzuki who lectured at Colombia University " from the late forties until at least 1957 " (108) He mentions that " t is " unclear " when Cage started attending the lectures (Revill 108). Cage " mentions that he first went along in the late forties. There were clear ramifications in his music by 1951 " (Revill 108).
Conze says Buddhism started in India with a person, who was named or called " The Buddha " , or " The Enlightened One " (11). The Buddha " rediscovered a very ancient wisdom, and that he did so in Bihar in India, round about 600 or 400 BC, " the precise year is unclear " (Conze 11). The knowledge the Buddha attained, gave him a way to abolish the " three evils " (Conze 11). Conze summarizes the three evils as: violence (to people and animals), the " self " " or the fact that one holds on to oneself as an individual (personality), was held to be responsible for all pain and suffering, which would in the end be finally abolished by the attainment of a state of self-extinction, " also known as " Nirvana " (11). The third enemy Conze mentions to overcome, is death (11). Conze notes that Buddhism arrived in Japan around 550 from Korea (94). He mentions how different sects that arose (Conze 111). Two are worthy of mention in the Kamakura period (1192-1335): the " Amida schools and Zen " (Conze 111). Yamamoto in Beyond Buddhism, describes how Zen then branched off into two different sects: Rinzai and Soto (98). Yamamoto mentions how " [M]ost of the Zen masters who have immigrated to the United States have come from these two sects " (98). Yamamoto notes that D.T. Suzuki, (the one who influenced Cage), was from the Rinzai sect (98). He goes on to say that " Suzuki was neither a Zen priest of master, he taught that a quick abrupt experience effects enlightenment contrary to the gradual process toward enlightenment of the Sota sect in Japan " (98). Yamamoto quoting the " Zen master Kinei Otokawa, chief abbot of the Soto sect said, " Zen is vibrantly alive and very much a part of the daily life of the people " (97). The abbot continues, " [A]nd it provides guidance for all levels of society " (Zen has entered almost all aspects of Japanese life and art-their poetry (haiku and tanka), calligraphy, architecture, painting ( Suni and Chinzo portraiture), athletics (judo), landscape gardening (sand and rock gardens) flower arrangement ( ikebana) and, of course the tea ceremony ( chanoyu) (Yamamoto 97).
Gann notes that in response to this philosophy Cage created new works. Alongside the lectures of D.T. Suzuki that Cage attended at Columbia on Zen Buddhism, Cage was also influenced by other Asian literature, this time, based on Chinese philosophy. Gann says that Christian Wolff, Cages " seventeen-year-old composition student brought him a new edition of the ancient Chinese book of oracles, the I Ching or Book of Changes " (135). Gann goes on to say that " [T]he intended use of the I Ching oracle is to be consulted to direct ones actions " (135). The background paradigm, " is that each moment of the universe is a unity, and so the number that comes up on the I Ching cannot help but be the appropriate number to that moment of ones life " (Gann 135). Gann continues by saying that " Cageused the I Ching more as a random number generator to make decisions for pitches, durations, dynamics, and so on in his music " (135). Finally, Gann notes that " n the third movement of the Prepared Piano Concerto, he made charts of sounds for both piano and orchestra and used the I Ching numbers to help select which sound aggregates went where " (Gann 135).
Music of Changes (1951) according to Gann, is Cages first work in which the I Chings influence is the dominating force (135). Gann continues by explaining how Cage started by making " up charts with composed pitch or harmonic images in one chart, rhythms in another, dynamics in a third " (135). Finally, Cage " tossed coins to determine where in his rhythmic structure each sonority or figure would occur and what rhythm or dynamics it would have " (Gann135). Gann continues by saying " n addition, there is no such thing as leaving everything to chance, it would be impossible or meaningless to tell them apart, and yet his chance compositions- Etudes, Australes, Atlas Eclipticalis, Hymnkus, Europeras-are easily distinguished by texture, instrumentation, range, behavior " (Gann136).
In a closer view of the Chinese philosophy, Watts highlights that within the background of the I Ching, idea in both Taoist and Confucian thought is that man left to his own devices, can be trusted, and " it appears that the Western mistrust of human nature-whether theological or technological-is a kind of schizophrenia " (Watts 33). He continues with the train of thought, to its conclusion by asking how could it logically follow that if a person believed oneself inherently evil, without voiding out the " the very belief, " if it came from a corrupted mind to begin with? (Watts 33).
However, some questions still remain. Besides the three main influences of his life Cages early exposure to music through hearing his mom play the piano at church, later his readings of the Futurist manifesto by Luigi Russolo and his attendance of lectures by Zen mystic D.T. Suzuki, Cage also was influenced by a fourth source. The final influence of Cage was Eastern philosophy of the Indian variety. Although Futurism still stands out by far the dominant influence, his searching out of knowledge in this area led to yet another change in his music, and a culmination of his lectures and writings in a book called Silence (1960).
Revill mentions that after dealing with a crisis in his personal life in the early 1940s, Cage met up with an Indian lady named Gita Sarabhai in New York who taught Cage all about the background and " tradition, " of Indian music in exchange for his instruction in " contemporary music and counterpoint " (Revill 84, 89) For a half a year, Cage absorbed it all (Revill 89). In a turning point on his views of music, he once asked her what " her teacher had considered to be the function of music " (89). Her reply was that " the purpose of music is to sober and quiet the mind, thus making it susceptible to divine influences " (Revill 90). Revill goes on to note that Cage then reoriented his thinking about how he could seek out spirituality through the discipline of music (90). Concurrently with his studying with Sarabhai, Cage kept reading and searching for answers and came across " the writings of Ananda Coomaraswamy, who was on the staff of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and author of a number of books and articles including Am I My Brothers Keeper " (Revill 91). Cage responded to his readings by saying in A Year From Monday, " I have for many years accepted and I still do, the doctrine about Art, occidental and oriental, set for the by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy in his book, The Transformation of Art in Nature, that the function of Art is to imitate Nature in her manner of operation " (Cage 31). Cage continues by saying, " [O]ur understanding of " her manner of operation " changes according to advances in the sciences " (31). He says, " [T]hese advances in this century have brought the term " space-time " into our vocabulary " (31). Cage concludes, " Thus the distinctions made above between the space and the time arts are at present an oversimplification " (Cage 31). Revill notes that as Cage studied Coomaraswamys works he learned about the " nine permanent emotions of Indian aesthetics. Four were white: the heroic, the erotic, the mirthful and the wondrous. Four were black: fear, anger, sorrow and disgust or " the odious. " At the center, without color, was tranquility, to which the others tended " (Revill 91). Revill continues, " Coomaraswamy suggested that these emotions could be found and codified in both East and West " (91). Cages first composition to show " tranquility " was Amores (Revill 92). He notes that Cages later works including The Seasons (1947), and Four Walls (1944) were influenced by the philosophy of Commaraswamy as well (Revill 92).
Conclusion
In spite of influences of Zen Buddhism and Indian philosophy, Cages music is still overshadowed by Futurism. One sees the traces of Futurism in Aria and Fontana Mix.Listening to Aria, is very harsh on the ears. Even though the context for this article of " noise sound " , where the noise is from technology, still the shift from consonance to dissonance remains evident in Aria. Peter Manning in Electronic and Computer Music, " Fontana Mix in many respects was a direct consequent of Williams Mix, the elements of indeterminacy being derived from graphic designs rather than detailed computations of chance routines " (87). He explains how " speech sound " was a huge factor in two of Cages compositions (Manning 87). Manning continues, " [T]wo subsequent pieces were based on this tape, both signifying Cages progression towards live improvisatory techniques and away from the permanence of studio composition " (88). Manning add " Aria with Fontana Mix completed in Milan adds a part for a live vocalist. It consists of indeterminated arrangements of phonemes from five languages-English, French, Italian, Armenian, and Russian-with the addition of several extra-musical sounds such as check-slapping and finger-clicking " (Manning 88). In Cages score of Aria, he mentions " These differences (of color) represent 10 different styles of singing. Any 10 styles may be used and any correspondance (sic) between color and style may be established " (Cage 1) Manning mentions that " [T]he choice of these styles is left to the performer, adds further to the indeterminacy of the result " (88). Beyond the echoes of Futurism in Cages musical examples, as shown alongside the seven ideals by Russolo, his music illustrated other philosophies: Zen Buddhism, Confucian/Taoist and Eastern thought using musical notation.
However inventive Cage was in creating music, using Futurism, his music quickly became an ananchromism for today. In my limited years on the planet, I have never heard a song of his on the radio. There are echoes of his style in contemporary music. Yesterday, I heard a group employing music concrete. When I think of the harmony though, in listening to the radio, one can hear the familiar, I, IV, IV in rock, the whole tone scale in the music of Debussy or Musorgsky on the classical station, or even the 9 th , 11 th ,13 th , chords in jazz. Cage was a futurist, in foreseeing the technology to use in creating compositions. However his inventiveness surpasses the modern listeners ability or conditioning to appreciate the auditory effect of his music. We livein a society, with e-mail, instant messaging, neatly wrapped stories with happy endings on sitcoms, and a barrage of advertising on the radio, billboards, television, and on the home computer. Above all else, what no other musician has demanded of its listener is to be still. Of course there is the common courtesy of listening and sitting quietly in ones seat in an auditorium to the performance or to hear the lovely sound of the melody that the composer wrote. In John Cages music, one has to be still, just to read and try to understand what philosophies he had, and how they influenced him. Most would dismiss even listening to his music, because it takes time to find out about the background or context of his work. A lot of times, people will judge a work of music for its pleasantness according to their own aesthetic scale and what they are familiar with. Cage was ahead of his time, in writing the way that he did. Understanding how, why or how come he wrote comes first and the music comes later. We who live now have to catch up and learn from the man taught that music can be written in forms beyond familiar harmonic structure and that the beauty of music starts with understanding how to be still and expose our ears to new sounds.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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