Re: [microsound] Derivative Music

[cyborgk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I have a book that collects Cage's own writing that goes into this - Cage
studied with Cowell in the early 1930's, and had some vivid anecdotes
about the sounds Cowell produced by plucking strings inside the piano and
other unorthodox techniques. However, the prepared piano itself did indeed
come from the specific need to create a percussion orchestra, when only a
piano was available.

What a found on a random website confirms what I remember reading in
Cage's (autobiographical) book, and says something similar RE the
Cowell/Cage influence:

"In the late 1930s, he went to the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle,
Washington. There he found work as an accompanist for dancers. He was
asked to write some music to accompany a dance by Syvilla Fort called
Bacchanale. He wanted to write a percussion piece, but there was no pit at
the performance venue for a percussion ensemble and he had to write for a
piano. While working on the piece, Cage experimented by placing a metal
plate on top of the strings of the instrument. He liked the sound this
produced, and this eventually led to his inventing the prepared piano, in
which screws, bolts, strips of rubber and other objects are placed between
the strings of the piano to change the character of the instrument. It is
likely that he was influenced by his old teacher Henry Cowell who also
treated the piano in a non-standard way, asking performers to strum the
strings with their fingers, for example. The Sonatas and Interludes of
1946-48 are widely seen as his greatest work for prepared piano." Quoted
from:
http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/prepared_piano.htm

~David

>>
>> But at the same time, derivative thought gives way
>> to inspiration. Would
>> Cage have ever thought to dig inside the piano if he
>> had never heard Cowell
>> do it first? DID he hear Cowell do it first? (I
>> don't know the answer)
>
> other things to add but short on time. i think cage
> must have but i don't have the evidence to hand. but
> you know cowell i think created the first western
> recordings of gamelan music in the late 1920's or 30's
> so cowell is for sure an influence on cage in that
> respect...i think the prepared piano cage alleges came
> from when he wanted to have an african drum ensemble
> in one (rather large albeit) box for a performance
> with some dancer...but my memory could be faulty...



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