[silence] The percussion Number Pieces of John Cage

[Glenn Freeman]

more clues for one4. think about the nature of very short vs. very  
long, and free dynamics in regard to a piece scored for "solo  
drummer" (thus drum set). this is not just a set of sounds, but a work  
scored with a certain set of cultural values in mind ... the ideas and  
conventions of "drumset" and "drummer" are part of the piece. i also  
believe cage brought this about in most of his number pieces ...  
abiding by cultural norms, and even the cultural baggage of various  
instruments he wrote for. of course ... when we think we know the  
number pieces ... then we realize one8 is a huge exception!

Alexandre Popoff wrote:

> 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.

no need to apologize to me ... am fine with anything i did in the  
past ... no longer the present and no longer me. after recording so  
much of this music i've found a few things i would do differently, but  
the sounds are out of my hands ... they are just sounds, not me.