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Listening Report 3 Alvin Lucier Nothing is Real (1990)

 

Maria Alighourchi

7489718

The Future of American Music

 

Listening Report 3

Alvin Lucier

Nothing is Real (1990)

 

In Alvin Lucier’s interpretation of the song Strawberry Fields Forever (1967) by The Beatles, he  uses only a piano and a teapot. The two instruments used are solely physical, one of which is not even an instrument. However, this does not matter to Lucier since he confidently uses the teapot, in which parts of the Strawberry Fields melody seeps out, in the perfectly planned tunes Lucier scripted.

Generally, Alvin Lucier experiments with sounds that physical objects make and intertwines these, or often re-records the already created sounds on top of each other, creating an chaos of tunes. Naturally, people would assume that the overlaying sounds and his experiments are mere chaos but having in mind that Lucier does not rely on accidental music but scripts his work, his art opens a new dimension towards what we human define as music and musical instruments. What Lucier does, in my view, is to prove how every physical thing can come to life, can create their own tunes. Thus, everything unexpectedly becomes music.

In Lucier’s Strawberry and Teapot experiment, which is how I call it, he leaves the strawberries out and just takes the “Nothing is Real” part, transcending an utterly new interpretation and meaning to the original song – the original song does not exist in his interpretation, just merely echoes. It echoes out of the teapot. The original meaning behind the Beatles’ song is to never let go of your imagination; or at least that is what Google says. But keeping the original meaning in mind, Lucier’s version motivates the audience to use their imagination while witnessing and listening to his performance. However, by focusing only on the “Nothing is Real” part, he demonstrates that what they see in front of them cannot be real. The sounds coming out of the teapot are nothing but playback. Redirecting my last sentence, the sounds are in fact not nothing but playback, considering the crucial factor of opening and closing the teapot, which changes the music completely. Or at least how the music is delivered. Yes, it completely changes how the music is delivered! Because it is delivered through a teapot. A teapot. Normally, one would not consider a teapot a musical device but witnessing Lucier using it as one changes the audience world view – even if it is a tiny bit. Even if it just changed mine a tiny bit. Hence, Lucier takes something that you can only imagine (in your head) to use as an instrument since it does not “seem real” and demonstrates to you that this object can indeed alter music. Therefore, Lucier is a genius, titling his performance “Nothing is Real”, mockig that phrase by proving something that does not seem real in the first place – music out of a teapot.

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