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From: gtaylor@cornell.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.music,net.music.classical
Subject: Re: cage and listening
Message-ID: <115@cornell.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 22-May-84 10:35:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: cornell.115
Posted: Tue May 22 10:35:34 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 23-May-84 09:07:46 EDT
References: <381@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept.
Lines: 39

Good old Dr. Malik diagnoses the illness correctly again!

It occurs to me that no one flaming away on poor old John
has said very much about his prepared piano works. My impression
of having tied down my friends after a hard evening of "formal
rigour" (brahms? mahler?) and played the prepared music for them
is usually alswys one of delight and pleasure. Not that there's
a whole lot formally different going on in the pieces per se-that
emphasis on the act of listening is still there.

One friend did cast a dissenting vote, though....he claimed that a
prepared piano was in some way an insult to the intergrity ot the
instrument, and that whatever pianistic effects the preparation
allowed for was overshadowed entirely by other great composers'
ability to mimic those same effects without the gimcrackery.
Unfortuneately for him, he was such a complete elitist about the
whole mater that my formulation of his argument didn't show up
until we cooled down and talked it out.

I am curious as to whether or not those of you who object to
Cage do so because the raw material that's being manipulated
rather than the formal constraints of the situation. Seems as
if our little discussion about "Western Classicism as Imperialist
Lackey Opiate" (courtesy of a HORRIBLE flame in my mail) was met
in many instances by the "Of course not, I listen to the music ITSELF."
argument. I can't but see some connection between what Cage is up
to and that statement of "how I listen to music."

Cage's music for the prepared piano seems a nice "neutral ground"
to speak music that has "melodies and rhythmic motifs....."
(especially since I can hear the whine of flames buzzing this way
from the bastions of classicism were I to suggest LaMonte Young
or Brian Eno as other posibilities) and still embodies some notion
of cagein (cagey?) process.

gregariously,

gtaylor