Anecdote 120809

I work in a bookshop. Mostly at the cash registers.

On occasion I see a child at the stage where they are just beginning to develop the ability to communicate. I watch them spewing words, asking fragmented questions, interspersed with counting, announcements and seemingly random words.

I think, "how wonderful it must be to be able to approach language from that fresh perspective."

It must be an incredible feeling, to discover the ability to communicate with others in so many different ways.

I felt slightly envious until I realised that that is what we try to pursue in improvising.

(Revelations in 'music' leak and bleed into 'non-music')

-

John Cage's Music of Changes. Such strange works. One of a number of cds of Cage's music that I've acquired recently. This one probably second only to the Cage Performs Cage disc on Mode Records. I do prefer these 4 pieces over the only (I think?) other Cage piece that I've heard that was completely determined using chance operations. The Freeman Etudes (for violin), while enjoyable, sound a lot less convincing than these really rather attractive piano pieces.

Absurd fragments of musical ideas are thrown across a canvas, appearing out of no where and disappearing just as awkwardly. Piano resonance cut off either with another chord or run, or the lifting of the damper pedal. Here, I do feel that Cage's chance operations open up the sound world to illogical, 'unmusical' patterns and textural layers that would otherwise never have made it into the work had it been left up to the composer's musical intuition. These unexpected, disconcerting patterns/arrangements do sound fresh, creative, and incredibly musical though, opening up an alien sound world, despite extended-techniques being kept to a relative minimum throughout the piece.

I was surprised by the generally fast pace of the music (perhaps to be expected, after becoming accustom to the pacing of the Cage performs Cage cd), although this impression may be exaggerated by the generally faster patterns of notes within each 'cluster' of sound.

No doubt more thoughts on this soon, as I come to term with the music more. I would like to try and write a bit about the Cage Performs Cage as well, although with less than two weeks until I move to Oberlin I don't know if I'll have the time. We will see.



Other listening recently has included Muhal Richard Abrams' Levels and Degrees of Light (incredible music... definitely the best AACM related music I've heard yet... more of that coming in the post soon though, including some Joseph Jarman and Wadada Leo Smith), Charles Mingus (variety of records), and Michael Pisaro's Harmony series 11-16.

Have yet to find the time to really sink my teeth into Keith Rowe and Sachiko M's contact yet. I fear that may well have to wait until I'm settled in at Oberlin.

-

I do wonder if this amazement/excitement works when applied to composition.

Or whether the loss of spontaneity removes a part of that sense of exploration.