John Cage’s concept of indetermination and chance as the means of reaching his goal create unexpected outcomes in his pieces or seemingly none at all as in the case where the orchestra doesn’t make a single sound using the actual instruments. The latter may not be his greatest piece in terms of sound, however, it is as unique and as creative as the others. There is anyway sound everywhere, even in silence and he successfully implements this notion in his almost theatrical acts or pieces, using a big variety of different objects in order to create a sequence for listening. One thing to notice here is that Cage is into everything that is unplanned which can in y opinion be connected with simple and natural. It’s the sound of life, nature, of the moment, and each one of them is unpredictable even if staged. Prepared piano makes you think of Cage’s attempt to show how even the accurate and instrumental can turn into new every time. That is a new instrument which combines piano and at some point sounds like a guitar too – certainly due to the nails between the strings. Cage plays with the instruments and things as well as with the sound itself, refusing to take them seriously in the traditional way. He creates a performance like Water Walk, but the stress is on the time, sequence and variations caused by the human. And it seems like he doesn’t mind the musicians getting away from the intentions of the composer, it is actually his intention to get an infinite number of new pieces with every time they will be performed. And he is not scared of the moments when sound starts being almost discordant, because he seeks the authentic and the real. The key element of getting back to the basics and having a closer look at things a few more times until realization comes through is spontaneity and improvisation. His idea of equality for sounds puts silence in the same row with music and noise making it one of the variations of sound. Cultural and personal perspectives are forced to step away or to step back at least and make way for clarification. That way one understands the preconceptions imposed by the classical traditions and opinions and embraces sound as everything that is heard. The focus shifts to the audience and interaction, creating the accidence of unplanned things. Everyone and everything becomes a sound.
Sarah Kumar Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath The Future of (American) Music 06 Mar. 2023 Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure According to John Oswald, “[a] plunderphone is a recognizable sonic quote, using the actual sound of something familiar which has already been recorded” (Lecture Slides 18). However, only if the source stays recognizable can it be called plunderphonics. In his album Plexure , several songs are played back and mixed together, thus creating a new sound. This is interesting because while the excerpts of songs that are used are recognizable or at least sound familiar to some degree, played backwards and mashed up as they are in Plexure , they create a new sound. Like on the cover of the album, on which a collage making up a man can be seen, the mixing of different songs played backwards gives a new feeling to something known. The way the songs are mixed makes them unintelligible. The meaning of the words of the original recordings are not able to be compr...
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