Skip to main content

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.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure

 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...
Post a Comment
Read more

John Cage – Inlets

  This does not sound like music to me. Depending on the interpretation of different players or performers, this piece will always sound different. In this case, it sounds to me like someone is walking through a cave with water at the bottom, dragging their feet through it. Sometimes it sounds like water in a toilet bowl, especially when we hear the water in a bigger shell being swished around. These sounds are relaxing in the background, it is like a gentle stream of water. I just wonder what went through the head of the composer while writing this piece. But I guess he had some experimental ideas that are interesting to try out. Those shells are quite pretty, I have never seen such big ones that are not broken. I was surprised when something else happened towards the end of the piece. That tone which came out of the one shell was so clear, it sounded like a trumpet. I didn’t know that shells can sound like that. It was quite beautiful. It was a nice way to end the piece. I di...
Post a Comment
Read more

William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops III

  The Disintegration Loops is a quartet of albums published in 2002 and 2003 by American avant-garde composer William Basinski. The pieces are made up of tape loop recordings that were played over time, with noise and crackles rising as the tape deteriorated. Basinski noticed this effect when attempting to convert his older recordings to digital format. The completion of the recordings coincided with the September 11, 2001 events, which Basinski witnessed and adds a deeper meaning to the composition. The composition is fascinating in many ways and makes the listener lose track of time. The tape loop recording had a very calming effect on me and put me in a trance-like state when I listened to it in its entirety. The tape loop is really soothing, so much so that I didn't even notice the loss of quality when I first listened to it. It makes you forget about time and allows you to really get into the piece capturing the calmness it exudes. You forget or don't really notice how i...
Post a Comment
Read more