john cage recorded sound

8/8/2019 John Cage Recorded Sound

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Something like a hidden glimmering:

John Cage and recorded sound

James Pritchett

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Wh at 's in m in d is to sta y up all n ight rea ding th is is J ohn Cage'ssu ggestion for h is workEmpty w ords (19731974), a chance-made rearrangingof pa ss ages from th e jou rn als of Hen ry David Th oreau . Th e text is in fou rpa rts , becoming m ore an d more fra gmen ted as it proceeds. Th e first sectiondraws p hr as es, words , syllables, an d let ters a t ran dom from th e thir teenvolu mes of th e journ als; the secon d section dispens es with th e phra ses, an dth e third drops th e words, too. By th e four th s ection, th ere is n othing left bu tin dividu al let ters and si lences mak ing a vocalise: pu re sou n d. Th eperforma nce inst ru ctions read like n otes from Cage's own journ al:

Searching (out loud) for a way to read. Cha nging frequen cy. Going up a nd th engoin g down: goin g to extrem es. . . . In st ead of goin g to extrem es (as in I an d II),movement toward a center (III an d IV). A new br eath for each n ew event. . . .

Making music by reading out loud. To read. To breath e. IV: equat ion betw eenletters and s ilence. Making lan guage s ay ing nothing at all.

It is a t th is point in h is ins t ru ct ions th at Cage ment ions t he a ll-n ightrea ding. Th e plan is to time th e rea ding (allowin g for ha lf-h ou r in term iss ion sbetween th e four p art s) so th at th e fina l section will comm ence at da wn. At

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1994 by James Pritchett. All rights reserved .


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Jam es Pritchett John Cage and recorded sound 2

th is point al l th e doors a n d win dows are to be opened, al lowin g th e soun ds ofth e morning to enter. When Cage performed su ch a r eading over the ra dio in1981, I did as he su ggested in m y own ap artm ent. The bird songs m ingled withhis own vocalizations inside and out, everyone was singing together.

Cage's orchestral workScore (40 d raw ings by Thoreau ) an d 23 p arts : 12Haiku (197 4) is an other Th oreau -in sp ired piece. Here, th e eponym ousdrawings, taken from th e journ als, are arran ged in t ime fram es con stru ctedaccording to th e syllabic proportions of J apa nes e haiku poet ry (575). Th es e

drawings a re d is t r ibu ted am ong the twenty- three ins t rum ental par ts , s o thatwhen the en sem ble plays togeth er the complete drawings a re tran sformed intosou n d. After th e perform an ce of th e twelve haiku , we hear the s oun ds of dawnarr ivin g, this t ime via a tap e recording m ad e at Ca ge's h ome in Ston y Point ,New York. Th e effect is a lmost iden tical to th at of th e open wind ows in Emptyw ords : th e ou ts ide world is allowed in.

Cage 's combinat ion of na tu ra l amb ience an d th e text an d pic tures of Thoreau 's journ al is not ha pha zard. Thoreau , as h is journ al demonstra tes onevery page, was an avid walker in th e woods a n d a keen observer of everythingth at h e encou nt ered there. In both Cage pieces, after hearing fragmen ts of

Thoreau 's accoun ts of th e world of n atu re we are ready to go ou t an d s ee forou rs elves. By open ing the win dows of th e con cert h all, eith er ph ysically orthr ough the m ediu m of tape r ecording, Cage takes th e world th at we experiencesecondh an d in Thoreau 's writ ing an d invites it ins ide. Why describe the th ingwhen you can h ave it whole r ight h ere an d n ow?

Cage does n ot use th e soun ds from outs ide as an accompa niment to h ism u sic, h owever. In Score a nd parts th e tap e is p layed only after th e orchestrais finish ed; in Empty w ords th e sou n ds of th e early morn ing fill up th e si lencesin h is read in g, overwhelming an d ab sorbing his voice. Ou r atten tion is tu rn edawa y from th e figure of J ohn Cage, composer a n d performer; in stea d our ea rs

tu rn ou twards , towards th e world. His performa nce notes su ggest this: At


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first face to face, finally sitting with one's back to the audience (sitting w ithth e au dience), everyone facing th e sa m e vision. After st aying up all n igh tlistening to his reading, everything in the world seems clear, bright, shiny-new.

Maybe I was wrong when I said that Cage opens the window to invite theworld in . He open s it to let th e world in vite u s ou t. We h ave com e fu ll-circle:Thoreau went out in to the woods, th en cam e back a nd wrote of his experience.Cage takes th ose writ ings an d dra wings, tran sforms th em th rough h is ownart istr y, th en ta kes u s ba ck out in to the world a gain , as if on a field tr ip.

When we hear th e morning soun ds in both Empty w ords a n d Score a nd parts,th e u rge to pu t on our boots an d go looking for birds, flowers, or m u sh rooms isirresistible. Th e beau ty of it all is th at Ca ge n eed do so little n oth ing, really to make th is turn ing of our m ind s h appen . He ju s t opens th e window, tu rnson th e tape recorder. Like Thoreau , Cage is a ma ster a t s imply noticing th ings.


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2 .

Cage's Inlets (1977)is for three perform ers, each with fou r con ch sh ells: sm all,mediu m , large, and very large. Water is pour ed int o the sh ells s o tha t th ey willgurgle soft ly when th e players t ip an d tu rn th em ab out. Each b egins with an ysh ell, then , after a sh ort t ime, cha nges to an other one. A som ewhat longertim e is s pent playin g the second sh ell before chan gin g to the th ird on e, whichis th en played for an even lon ger time. Th e rest of th e perform an ce th e

lon gest time period of all is s pen t playin g th e fin al sh ell. Th e watery sou n dsof th e shells are at th e heart of th e piece. Th eir un predictable outb u rsts a ndsoft bu rbles are m esm erizing a nd relaxing; the gradu al slowing down of th eperforma nce mirrors the sett in g of our own minds . About m idway th rough th epiece th e sh ells fal l s i lent an d t h e sou n d of fire of bu rn in g pine cones emerges from lou ds peak ers. Th e wat er gu rgles pick u p again, an d, a little later ,th e soun d of a blown conch sh ell tru m pet is h eard. Tha t is th e wh ole piece:water , fire, air. Th e ma terials are elem en ta l (only ear th is m issing . . . Iremem ber, thou gh, tha t when Cage performed i t he us ed a box of sa nd to catchth e dribbles of water). Th ey do not n eed Cage's a ss ist an ce to become powerfu l.Wh at th ey n eed is for him to leave th em a lone. Each of th e elemen ts ispresen ted so plainly th at i ts iden tity sh ines b righ tly: th e splash ing of th ewater, th e crackling of th e fire, th e wailing of th e conch tru m pet.

In tran sm itt ing these vivid ima ges, l ive sou n d h as no a dvanta ges overrecorded sou nd . The sou nd of the bu rning pine cones can be produced live(presumably offstage and then piped in) or it can come from a tape recording:Cage ma kes n o dist inction b etween th e two. To discu ss th e fin e dist inctionsbetween th e fire, th e sou n d of fire, an d th e recorded sou n d of fire is to miss th epoint en tirely. Th e overriding con cern is th e clear p rojection of th e th reeelemen ts via th e three sou nd s; the image of water, fire, an d a ir , not th emediu m through which th at image is impar ted.


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3 .

I think on e of the th ings th at h as h app ened is tha t it 's become clear th at we canbe not just with ou r minds bu t with our wh ole being respon sive to soun d,an d tha t tha t soun d doesn ' t have to be the commu nica t ion of some deepthought . It can be jus t a soun d. Now tha t sou nd could go in one ear and outthe oth er , or it could go in one ear , perm eate the b eing, t ran sform th e being, an dthen perh aps go out , le t t ing the n ext one in.

[J ohn Cage, in conversa t ion with Morton Feldma n]

Go to the pine i f you wan t to learn abou t th e pine, or to the ba mb oo if you wan tto learn abou t th e bam boo. . . . Your poetry issu es of its own accord when youan d th e object have become one when you h ave plu nged deep enou gh into th eobject to see som ething like a hidden glimmering th ere.

[Basho]

An y fool kn ows it 's a broom.

[An u n iden tified friend of J as per J ohn s, sp eaking of th e real broom

in J ohns 's pa in t ing Fool's hous e]


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4 .

Before Cage began his h istory-ma kin g work with cha nce a n d indeterm ina cy, h ehad already achieved wide recognition as a composer for percussion ensembles.His introdu ction to percuss ion m u sic was th rough Osca r Fisch in ger, a ma kerof ab st ra ct films . Wh en I was in trodu ced to him, Cage recalls, h e began t otalk with me a bou t th e spirit wh ich is ins ide each of th e objects of th is world.So, he told m e, all we need to do to libera te th at s pirit is to bru sh pa st th e

object , and to draw forth i ts sou n d. Cage was ins pired by th is to go str ikingth in gs he foun d arou n d him, l isten in g for their sp iri ts: th is explorationbecame his mu sic.

I wond er whether th is was a lso the sou rce of his u nu su al scheme forclas sifyin g recorded sou n ds in h is two tap e pieces of th e 1950 s: Williams mix(195 21953) an d Fontana mix (1958 ). In both comp osit ions h e us ed sixcategories of sou n ds: city sou n ds, cou nt ry sou n ds, electronic sou n ds,ma nu ally-produ ced soun ds (including ins tru men tal mu sic), win d-producedsou n ds (in clu ding singin g), an d sm all sou n ds (th at is , sou n ds s o quiet an dsu btle that t h ey need close m iking and am plification t o be heard ). Th is plan isu nique in tha t it is n ot based on th e acou st ic proper t ies of the sou nd s , bu tra th er on the identity of th eir sou rces. To proper ly clas sify a sou n d, Cage'ssystem dem an ds th at one kn ows wha t produ ces it or where it comes from.Perhap s, in collectin g soun ds for h is tap e collages, h e was more concerned withth e different spirits to be discovered ra th er th an th e different acou sticalprofiles. I like th e ima ge of J ohn Cage, microphon e in ha n d, h u n ting for cityspirits , cou n try spirits , s ma ll spirits .

Soun ds are a lso th e spirits of places the ess ence of a p lace can be foun din its own pecu liar flavor of silence. In Etcetera (19 73 ), a work for m ixed

ens emble, a ta pe recording of th e am bien t n oise in Cage's S tony Poin t h ome is


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played very qu ietly th rou ghou t. By th e tim e of th e sequ el to this work , Etcetera2/ 4 Orchestras (19 86 ), Cage ha d m oved to an ap ar tm ent in New York City: theta pe recordin g played h ere is of th e tra ffic noises rising from Sixth Aven u e,pu nctu ated b y th e r in gin g of th e telephon e. In either work the effect he sou ghtwas to u se th e recordin g of am bien t noise to tra ns form th e soun d of th econcert h all its si lence, actu ally in to th e sou n d of th e place in which h eha d composed the work.

Th ere is a rich poetry in so identifyin g the piece with th e circu m st an ces of

its creation. Cage was a fas tidiou s an d devoted worker. There 's a wond erfu lscen e in Elliot Caplan 's recent docum enta ry film Cage/ Cunningham in wh ichCage an d Merce Cu n ningha m a re wait in g in a n a irport . Th e corridor is emp tyan d si lent . Th e two of th em a re si t t in g at a t able, briefcases open , papers out,working away. Their concen tra tion is electric. Perha ps th is is th e int ent of th eam bient n oise in th e Etcetera pieces to su m mon u p th e ima ge of Cageworking in tens ely in an empt y, si lent s pace. By hea rin g the sam e silence, wemight jus t be brus hed by the sam e spirit .


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5 .

Th e very first n u m ber of th e Song books (1970) is a setting of the followingexcerpt from Thoreau 's jou rn al:

Saw a large ha wk circling over a pine wood below me, an d screa ming, ap par entlyth at h e migh t discover his prey by their fl ight . . . Wh at a symb ol of th e thou ghts ,

now soar in g, now descending, tak in g larger an d larger circles, or sm aller an dsmaller! It

fl ies n ot directly whither i t is bou n d, bu t a dvan ces by circles, l ike a courtier of theskies . . . How it comes roun d, a s with a wider s weep of th ough t! . . . Circlin g an dever circling, you cannot divine which way it will incline, till perchance it divesdown s traight a s a n a rrow to its m ark . . . a will-o'-the-wind . . . the p oetry ofmotion.

Cage's instru ctions for th e performa nce of th e song ar e clear en ough:

Using the m ap of Concord [Massa chu setts , Thorea u 's h ome] given , go from Fa irHaven Hill down th e r iver by boat a nd then inlan d to th e hou se beyond Blood's .Tur n th e map s o that th e path you tak e su ggests a m elodic line (reads u p an ddown from left to right). . . . Change electronics [amplification or alteration of thevoice] at inters ections an d/ or when mode of travel cha n ges. . . . The d ifferenttype-faces [of th e printed text] ma y be int erpreted a s ch an ges in int ens ity,qua lity, dynam ics.

This solo ma y be accompan ied by a ta pe recording of ha wk sou nds .


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Th is first solo of th e Song books demonstra tes perha ps th e s imples tpossible treatm ent of recorded s oun d. Th e Th oreau text is a p oetic meditationon th e fligh t of ha wks; its d eclam ation is a ccomp an ied by the recorded sou n dsof ha wks. The ta pe borders on being a soun d effect , except th at th ere is n oattem pt h ere to create the i llu sion of being where Th oreau was. In h is bookThe trans form ation of natu re in a rt, An an da K. Coomar as wamy dist ingu ish esbetween a rt ist ic imitation a s simu lacru m an d simile: th e im itat ion of th eoutward a ppeara nces of ph enomen a versu s th e imitation of essen ces andeterna l im ages. His discu ss ion of th is very dist inction a n d h is insisten ce onth e divine origin of al l art is , in fact , th e sou rce of an idea th at Cage cited

throughout his l ife:

However, if we su ppos e tha t all th is imp lies a con ception of art as som eth ingseeking its perfection in the nearest possible approaches to i l lusion we shall begreatly mista ken . It will ap pear pr esen tly th at we shou ld err equa lly in su pposingth at Asiatic art repres ents an ideal world, a world idea lized in th e popu lar(sen timenta l, religiou s) sense of the words, th at is, p erfected or rem olded n earerto the heart 's desire; which were it so might be described as a blasphemy againstth e witn ess of Perfect Exper ience, an d a cyn ical dep reciation of life itself. Wesh all find th at Asiatic art is ideal in th e mat hem atical sense: l ike Natu re (naturanaturans ), not in a pp eara n ce (viz. tha t ofens n aturata ), bu t in operat ion.

The painters of old p ainted th e idea an d n ot merely th e sh ap e so sa ys aChinese writer qu oted by Coomar as wamy. Cage ha s done the sa me in h isha wk-song. Thoreau , watching th e h awks, ha d his mind fu ll of h awks: fromth e real one in fron t of him h is jou rn al proceeds t o his thou ghts the in n erh awks th at m u ltiply, circle, an d dive. Th e pas sa ge m oves fluidly betweenthes e in ner an d outer h awks: did h e see a bird dive to its m ark or did he h avean in sight ? His consciou sn ess an d hen ce h is writ ing is filled with h awks .Cage, in at taching a tape of hawk calls to his music, imitates Thoreau's mentalsta te, not the thea tre tha t un folded before h im . It 's ju st a h awk (an y foolkn ows i t), an d yet it touch es on som ething deeper. It is th e soul of ha wks, of

Thoreau 's thou ghts. Here th e very concrete acts a s a win dow in to a spiritu al


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insight. Th e clarity of vision an d th e sim plicity of th e soun d produ ces abrillian ce, a lum inou s qu ality. The h awk scream s, an d we begin to hea rsomething like a hidden glimmering here, even while we hear nothing special atall.


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6 .

In Roaratorio, an Irish circus on Finnegans Wake (19 79), Cage took on th eda u n ting task of sett ing J am es J oyce's polyglot novel to mu sic. To write ascripted version of th e book a r ad io play, for in st an ce is h ar dlyima gina ble, s ince th e literal dra ma tic sur face of th e book is a lm ostnon -existen t: it comes from the world of dream s. In stead , Cage tu rn ed tosou n d a nd its m agical ability to reveal the etern al by mean s of th e concrete.

He went th rough th e en tire book, find ing references to soun ds a nd p laces. Hethen recorded th ose sou nds , recorded th e ambient soun ds a t those places , andmixed th em on tape s o tha t th eir ap pearan ce in t ime was propor t ional to theirapp eara n ce in th e book. This tran slation from n ovel to tape mu sic is asstra ightforward as i t can be: if th e book men tions a cat m eowin g, th en pu t inthe s oun d of a ca t meowing; if the book men t ions Is tan bu l, then pu t in arecording of st reet noise from Ista n bu l. Add to th is some m u sic from a fewIrish folk musicians and Cage's reading of his own rearrangement of the novel'stext , an d th e com posit ion is complete. Th e resu lt in g cacophon y is a nexpression of th e spirit of th e novel, its eterna l ima ge: th e world an d i ts en tirehistory as filtered th rou gh the u ncon sciou s m in d of a Du blin er.

Cage's u se of recorded s ou n d h ere, as elsewh ere, is com pletely with out guileor comp licat ion . In Roaratorio , h is sou nd s are litera l: a sou nd is ju s t asoun d. But , being soun ds truly soun ds a nd not tokens for concepts theyh ave a m agic th at words or even litera l visu al im ages do not. Th e visu al im ageof a th in g sh ows u s i ts su rface. If th e art ist or photograp her is good an d weare lu cky, then we ma y see through th is into a deeper u n dersta nd ing. Thena me of a th in g doesn't even go sur face-deep: it is s ometh ing app lied to theth in g and is not of th e th in g itself. Th e sou n d of an object or a place itssonic ima ge goes to its hea rt ; we can be perm eated a nd tran sformed by i t .The relations hip between a s oun d an d its h earer is a m ore in tima te, a more

ph ysical bond th an th at b etween a visu al ima ge an d i ts viewer.


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Cage's achievemen t in h is work with recorded s oun d is tha t h e allows u s torespon d to a sou n d's spirit directly, with out h avin g th e soun d act only as a nin termed iary for his own designs . His realization was th at sou nd s poss ess th ispower in th ems elves, an d th at a ny person al vision th at h e migh t try to sadd leth em with wou ld on ly detract from th eir inn ate p ower their livin g im pu lsewou ld disap pear in t he welter of ideas (to para ph ras e Fran k O'Hara 'sas sess men t of Kan dinsky). Wh en we hea r Roaratorio, we respond to the soun ds an d h en ce th e sp irit of J oyce's n ovel, n ot to Cage's vision of th e n ovel.Cage is t he perfect comp oser to set J oyce's writ ing becau se both of th em

J asp er J ohns , Thoreau , an d Bash o, too, for tha t mat ter are consu mm atema sters a t conn ectin g our m u nd an e experience to a h igher reality. J oyce find sth e un iverse in th e dream of a Du blin inn keeper; Cage tra ns lates th is to aph an tas ma goric m u sic of everyday sou nd s the cries of bab ies a nd seagulls .Recorded sou n d is a par ticu larly ap propr iate m edium for th is kind of work. InCage's ha nd s i t is ou r m odern-da y tool for goin g to th e pin e an d th e bam boo,to become one with ou r world.

Princeton, 14 April 199 4

john cage recorded sound

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