HI Randolph,
no, i've never worked on Cage's "Indeterminacy" with students. I do
have the recordings though. Good idea to try it. THanks.
xx
cc
On Apr 11, 2010, at 12:13 PM, Randolph Healy wrote:
> Sorry, I wasn't being clear. I meant the piece "Indeterminacy" where
> Cage reads 60-second-long texts while David Tudor accompanies him
> on the
> piano, while both are unable to hear each other being in separate
> recording studios.
>
> Great story about Mac Low.
>
> best
>
> Randolph
>
>
> cris cheek wrote:
>> Students here are fascinated by everything that constitutes what they
>> call "random." Once they begin to examine what they might mean by
>> that
>> they are contesting all sorts of great stuff about expectations,
>> juxtapositions, chance, the aleatoric, the found and yes
>> indeterminacy.
>>
>> I once had a lovely conversation with Jackson Mac Low about the
>> instructions embedded in his text The Marrying Maiden and how
>> difficult it would be for an actress to perform either on or off the
>> page. I can't really quote from the text here other than to say that
>> there are conditioning instructions as to how almost every phrase is
>> to be spoken. I was laughing about how near impossible that would be
>> to do and Jackson giggled impishly "you see, i had found out how to
>> achieve indeterminacy through overdetermination!"
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> xx
>>
>>
>>
>> cc
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Apr 11, 2010, at 11:53 AM, Randolph Healy wrote:
>>
>>> Glad you like it Mark.
>>>
>>> And, cris, yes I can see students being turned around by this
>>> piece.Your
>>> synopsis is spot on. I love the sound of the mechanical fish on the
>>> piano. And the exchange:
>>> Host: "Inevitably, Mr. Cage - these are nice people - but some
>>> of them
>>> are going to laugh. Is that alright? "
>>> Cage: "Of course. I consider laughter preferable to tears."
>>> And when he shakes the water off his hand after putting the
>>> cymbals in
>>> the bathwater.
>>>
>>> Re the unions, it seems odd, given the dispute over who had the
>>> right to
>>> plug in the radios, that the panel were allowed to move the set
>>> back.
>>>
>>> Have you done "Indeterminancy" with your students?
>>>
>>> best
>>>
>>> Randolph cris cheek wrote:
>>>> indd. my students often get turned around by Water Walk and have
>>>> very
>>>> positive things to say about Cage, fearing before they see it that
>>>> they would think it's just "not music." They often go on about his
>>>> manner of being inside the piece, his energy, his focus, his
>>>> playfulness, his demeanor and the overall musicality of the
>>>> composition. Then there are fascinating sub-texts such as the union
>>>> dispute about who could and who could not plug in the radios.
>>>> Most of
>>>> all the laughter of the audience being part of the piece, something
>>>> often totally new for a consideration of music.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> xx
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> cc
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Apr 11, 2010, at 11:29 AM, Mark Weiss wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks, Randolph. Brilliant.
>>>>>
>>>>> At 11:03 AM 4/11/2010, you wrote:
>>>>>> I'm with Mairéad here.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Many of you have probably seen this, but here's a clip of John
>>>>>> Cage
>>>>>> taking part in a game show.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSulycqZH-U
>>>>>>
>>>>>> best
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Randolph
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> mairead byrne wrote:
>>>>>>> This game show thing has huge gusto and energy. It looks
>>>>>>> (from my
>>>>>>> perspective) like a lot of fun.
>>>>>>> I don't have a TV but - /GO POETRY!!!!/
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 10:28 AM, Judy Prince
>>>>>>> <[log in to unmask]
>>>>>>> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The middle east and far east have for centuries treasured
>>>>>>> their
>>>>>>> poets and poetry in ways we seldom have in the west.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> My sadness with the "game-show" presentation is, as I
>>>>>>> said, with
>>>>>>> its stark metaphor of capitalist climbing, the lack of
>>>>>>> humanity
>>>>>>> and soul----humanity and soul, which I had thought were
>>>>>>> the meat
>>>>>>> of poetry.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 11 April 2010 09:28, Peter Riley <[log in to unmask]
>>>>>>> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>>>>>> < mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I prefer to think that it's a sign that there are still
>>>>>>> places
>>>>>>> in the world where poetry is taken seriously, albeit a
>>>>>>> rather
>>>>>>> grotesque manifestation. It's more likely to be mocked
>>>>>>> than
>>>>>>> praised western-world-wide, and indeed the introductory
>>>>>>> presentation on that clip already set the tone for it
>>>>>>> (how
>>>>>>> weird for poetry to be as popular as ballroom
>>>>>>> dancing). But
>>>>>>> this is a product of the climate in which Mahmoud
>>>>>>> Darwich is
>>>>>>> an international hero, in which poetry can still be
>>>>>>> recognised
>>>>>>> as a real public presence. There's no reason, I
>>>>>>> think, to
>>>>>>> assume the poems on this show to be the facile
>>>>>>> travesties
>>>>>>> they
>>>>>>> would be if such a thing took place here. PR
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 11 Apr 2010, at 13:46, Judy Prince wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks, Cris, I hadn't seen it.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This makes me sad; it's a metaphor for poetry-
>>>>>>> climbing and
>>>>>>> unmediated capitalism. And it will be praised
>>>>>>> worldwide.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Judy
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 11 April 2010 08:10, cris cheek <[log in to unmask]
>>>>>>> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>>>>>> < mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> sure you've all already checked this out but just in
>>>>>>> case:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/
>>>>>>> 8610524.stm
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Announcing *The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry*
>>>>>> (University of California Press).
>>>>>> http://go.ucpress.edu/WholeIsland
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Not since the 1982 publication of Paul Auster's /Random House
>>>>>> Book
>>>>>> of Twentieth Century French Poetry/ has a bilingual anthology so
>>>>>> effectively broadened the sense of poetic terrain outside the
>>>>>> United
>>>>>> States and also created a superb collection of foreign poems in
>>>>>> English. There is nothing else like it." John Palattella in /
>>>>>> The
>>>>>> Nation/
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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