[silence] The percussion Number Pieces of John Cage

[al.popoff@free.fr]

I usually follow everything in Cage's instructions which is explicitly written
down, and track down everything left unclear for any possible interpretations.
This is however my own opinion about the Number Pieces interpretations.
Indeed, Cage tells us about drums and/or cymbals, which excludes gongs for
example, but never says it should be only beated. Thus, as Rob Haskins and
Le-Quanh Ninh noticed, it could be brushed, bowed, scraped, and so on.


One4 is quite peculiar in many points, as compared to Six or Three2
(unfortunately I don't have the score for Four4 so I can't speak about it).

First, it could indeed be argued that parenthesis might stands apart from the
rest of the instructions. In this case, one must also notice the way the words
"left hands" and "right" are put between quotes, which suggest it might doesn't
have the trivial meaning of the drummer's hands.

Second, out of the ten different sounds notated in the score, only two or three
repat twice, with none of them repeating thrice or more (as far as I can
remember, not having the score under eyes right now). Thus, to my opinion, the
recollection of the sounds during the performance, as Ninh introduced it, looses
its meaning as compared to other percussion pieces.

As a consequence, Cage's indication about dynamics is interesting because it
just says "Dynamics are free", which opens the whole range from ppp to fff. In
other Number Pieces, Cage usually preferred soft sounds, forte sounds being
"tolerated" (the quotes are mine) as exceptions. Perhaps the fact that very few
sounds repeat themselves in One4 have lesser consequences over the dynamics of
the sounds.

Finally, I wish to apologize about my comment on Fritz Hauser's interpretation.
After hearing it very carefully, it appears that the soft mallet sound is in
fact, a forzando cymbal stroke which is not left free but rolled quickly to a
pppp sound (almost inaudible, which explains my trouble hearing it) then back to
ff and abruptly stopped. Indeed, Fritz Hauser took complete advantage of the
dynamics instructions.

Hoping I was clear enough in my explanations, I wish to thank you for your
insights in this piece.

Alexandre Popoff


Quoting Glenn Freeman <glennf@christinafong.com>:

> John Cage wrote:
>
> > "Six time-brackets for the 'left hand' and eight for the 'right'.
> > Bracket times are in light face when they overlap adjacent brackets.
> > At
> > such points, the performer must find a solution that accomodates one
> > bracket with the other. Either hand may help the other. Numeral on
> > staves are cymbals and/or drums chosen by the drummer. The sounds to
> > be
> > made are either long (a tremolo with individual attacks that are not
> > noticeable) or very short (without resonance, completely stopped).
> > Dynamics are free. Only one sound per bracket."
>
> Yes, I also ended up performing a single cymbal sound (loudly and very
> short) with a soft mallet. Alexandre Popoff, however, is correct. This
> one sound can be perceived as a struck note, allowed to ring. But
> listen closely and you will hear it is actually the reverb of a very
> large recording space (Basilica), not the very short sound. I'll blame
> it on the engineer!
>
> Are you defining "very short" to ALWAYS mean what is provided in
> parentheses "(without resonance, completely stopped)"? If so, then why
> are these descriptions/examples in parenthesis? This issue might come
> down to whether one person perceives what is in parenthesis as
> examples/suggestions, or strict law.
>
> > In what sense do you feel counterpoint in such pieces (especially in
> > One4 which only has a solo line) ?
>
> I was referring more to Three2 and Six, but even with One4 sounds can
> overlap from time to time. Also, One4 is actually a number piece
> composed for 2 hands (so One4 is a quasi-Two?). Counterpoint in
> Wikipedia ...
>
> "the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in
> contour and rhythm, and interdependent in harmony". in latin, simply
> "note against note".
>
> Again, I use the term chance counterpoint because any interdependent
> nature would arise from chance ... and this is also up to the listener
> to hear, or not hear.
>
> Glenn Freeman
> OgreOgress productions
> http://cdbaby.com/group/ogreogress
>
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