There are Other Forces at Work
December 10, 2015 4:07 PM Subscribe
"I went over to Germany, and I saw one millionth of a performance of a piece of music." John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats, Wolf In White Van) travels to Halberstadt to report on a John Cage concert that will last 639 years.
Which reflects only and exclusively on me, I know.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:27 PM on December 10, 2015
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:27 PM on December 10, 2015
I had an astonishing experience recently with the “Empty Words” . . . after twenty minutes, an uproar began in the audience, and it was so intense, and violent, that the thought entered my mind that the whole activity was not only useless, but that it was destructive. I was destroying something for them, and they were destroying something for me. The social situation was really miserable; however, it divided the audience, and at one point a group of people came to protect me. Things were thrown, people came up on stage to perform, and it was generally an upsetting situation.
posted by Mike Mongo at 6:36 PM on December 10, 2015
posted by Mike Mongo at 6:36 PM on December 10, 2015
The social situation was really miserable; however, it divided the audience, and at one point a group of people came to protect me. Things were thrown, people came up on stage to perform, and it was generally an upsetting situation.
John Cage : Zen Punk
posted by Jon Mitchell at 7:48 PM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
John Cage : Zen Punk
posted by Jon Mitchell at 7:48 PM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
Of course John Darnielle's mom was a reference librarian.
posted by unknowncommand at 8:22 PM on December 10, 2015
posted by unknowncommand at 8:22 PM on December 10, 2015
John Cage : Zen Punk
Accurate.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 8:35 PM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
Accurate.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 8:35 PM on December 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
Music journalism.
I really appreciate the work being done in part 6, disrupting the format of the writing up to that point, and the reference "depending on where this bit lands in the sequencing of the article" made me wonder if the ordering of the parts had been left to chance, at least partially. I don't think that's the case, but it did occur to me that it has the same number of sections as will be performed by ORGAN²/ASLSP.
Taking the structure a bit further, I wondered if I could read it as 8 parts with 1 part repeated. The repitition I guess would be 7/9 which both feature Youtube comments reacting to videos of Cage's compositions. Maybe that's reading too much into it, but I dunno, having thought of it myself I'd be kind of surprised if these or similar ideas weren't in Darnielle's head while he was writing the piece, especially with the (party tounge-in-cheek, party not) emphasis on reworking, revising, and recapitulating Cage's pieces in various forms that the people involved in this seem to have.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:41 PM on December 10, 2015 [4 favorites]
I really appreciate the work being done in part 6, disrupting the format of the writing up to that point, and the reference "depending on where this bit lands in the sequencing of the article" made me wonder if the ordering of the parts had been left to chance, at least partially. I don't think that's the case, but it did occur to me that it has the same number of sections as will be performed by ORGAN²/ASLSP.
Taking the structure a bit further, I wondered if I could read it as 8 parts with 1 part repeated. The repitition I guess would be 7/9 which both feature Youtube comments reacting to videos of Cage's compositions. Maybe that's reading too much into it, but I dunno, having thought of it myself I'd be kind of surprised if these or similar ideas weren't in Darnielle's head while he was writing the piece, especially with the (party tounge-in-cheek, party not) emphasis on reworking, revising, and recapitulating Cage's pieces in various forms that the people involved in this seem to have.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:41 PM on December 10, 2015 [4 favorites]
Only 639?
(the article is good, thank you)
posted by doiheartwentyone at 12:28 AM on December 11, 2015
(the article is good, thank you)
posted by doiheartwentyone at 12:28 AM on December 11, 2015
Is there a piece of music of this type that explicitly caters for events like maintenance downtime and the decay/death of the people and instruments it is played with, folding them into the piece somehow?
posted by doiheartwentyone at 12:34 AM on December 11, 2015
posted by doiheartwentyone at 12:34 AM on December 11, 2015
that is pretty slow
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:30 AM on December 11, 2015
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:30 AM on December 11, 2015
it actually made me almost nearly appreciate John Cage a little bit for probably the first time
Next step: watch Nineteen Questions.
posted by Gerald Bostock at 10:51 AM on December 11, 2015
Next step: watch Nineteen Questions.
posted by Gerald Bostock at 10:51 AM on December 11, 2015
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posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:26 PM on December 10, 2015 [1 favorite]