Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Graham Urquhart <>]

Interesting thread.

By concidence, the latest newsletter from the Touch label dropped into 
my inbox today. A couple of very topical items relating to this thread 
concerning Daniel Menche and Chris Watson - details below.

Cheers

Graham

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel Menche "Raw Fall"

Cassette only - limited edition of 250 copies

Track listing:
A: Raw Waterfall Recording Of Tunnel Falls At The Eagle Creek Trail In 
The Columbia River Gorge In Oregon, USA - 19m54s
B: Raw Waterfall Recording Of The South Falls In Silver Falls State Park 
Located In The Oregon Cascade Mountains, USA - 20m01s

"There is a reason for this madness and that is the waterfall" - Roger Steen

Daniel Menche documented the field trips he and his dog Arrow took, to 
capture these two recordings, on his blog: here and here.

"DRAMA is the goal. Maybe to you it's noise and maybe it's music yet 
DRAMA is my only goal. I only desire to create the most dramatic energy 
possible with sound. Whether it's quiet or loud the aim will always be 
DRAMA." - Daniel Menche


Buy Daniel Menche "Raw Fall" in the TouchShop
Release details on www.tapeworm.org.uk
danielmenche.blogspot.com


Chris Watson | Live in London

On 22 June 2010, 6pm, Chris will be performing at Barnard's Inn Hall, 
Gresham College. Throughout May and June the British Isles resonate to 
some of the strangest and most beautiful sounds on earth; the voices; 
rhythms and music of our wildlife. In an acoustic journey from the vast 
seabird cliffs in the far north to nocturnal soloists hidden in deep 
cover within Home Counties woodlands Chris Watson celebrates the sonic 
biodiversity found across our unique landscapes. This is a part of the 
series of events which are to be held in collaboration with the 2010 
City of London Festival.

Chris's Whispering in the Leaves installation at Kew Gardens' Palm House 
continues throughout the summer. A list of special events, performances, 
talks and workshops relating to the installation can be discovered at 
www.whisperingintheleaves.org

Chris's back catalogue is still available, and you can buy all 3 solo 
CDs [Stepping into the Dark, Outside the Circle of Fire and Weather 
Report] in a bundle at a discounted rate... See the Chris Watson 
catalogue page in the TouchShop


www.gresham.ac.uk
www.whisperingintheleaves.org
www.chriswatson.net




David Badagnani wrote:
> Japanese composer/performer Yoshiaki Ochi's "Beat the Water," "Beat 
> the Wood," etc.
>
> http://www.dakinirecords.com/~English/Ochis_Works.html 
> <http://www.dakinirecords.com/%7EEnglish/Ochis_Works.html>
>
> Miya Masaoka has worked with plants and insects:
>
> http://www.miyamasaoka.com/interdisciplinary/brainwaves_plants/index.html 
> http://www.miyamasaoka.com/interdisciplinary/skin_insects/index.html
>
> If you want to trace it back further, since you say your project is 
> historical in nature, many, if not most traditional cultures around 
> the world have legends about humans first learning about the concept 
> of musical sound from birds or other animals.  The ethnomusicologist 
> Steven Feld has noted that the Kaluli of Papua New Guinea, for 
> example, "sing with, to and about birds, water, insects."
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2wmj7dp
> *
> *And some of the earliest surviving musical instruments are flutes 
> (often made from the bones of birds or other animals, or clay).  So 
> the concept goes back much further than John Cage. :-)
>
> --
> David Badagnani
> Kent, Ohio
> United States
>
> --- On *Thu, 6/3/10, Nicolás Carrasco /< 
> <mailto:>>/* wrote:
>
>     From: Nicolás Carrasco 
> <
>     
> <mailto:>>
>     Subject: [silence] Re: Re: music and/including nature in its
>     manner of operation
>     To: "simon reynell" 
> <
>     
> <mailto:>>
>     Cc: "Simon Roy Christensen" 
> <
>     
> <mailto:>>,
>     
>
>  
> <mailto:>
>     Date: Thursday, June 3, 2010, 1:23 PM
>
>     Just seconding Simon Reynell and others:
>
>     Toshiya Tsunoda, Michael Prime, Francisco López; David Tudor's
>     Rainforest & Sea tails; Lee Patterson
>
>     add Jeph Jerman, marvelous music with and/or in nature: from
>     amplifying insects, to field or location recordings, to his
>     Animist Orchestra (7 or 8 players all improvising with sticks,
>     stones, leaves, bones, feathers, shells), etc.
>
>     Michael Pisaro
>
>     David Dunn
>
>     N.
>
>     2010/6/3 simon reynell 
> <
>     
> </>>
>
>
>          Hello Simon
>
>         I know and like all the examples you cite, but there are lots
>         of others.  In fact nature-based music of one kind or another
>         is now a pretty crowded field.  There are dozens of people
>         producing pieces from field recordings (with various degrees
>         of editing / manipulation) that use natural sounds as their
>         source (some of the best-known examples can be found on the
>         Touch label, people such as Chris Watson, BJ Nilsen and
>         Toshiya Tsunoda). 
>
>         And then there are several very interesting musicians using
>         natural phenomena in various other interesting ways:  in my
>         opinion it's particularly worth checking out Jeph Jerman
>         (http://www.jerman.littleenjoyer.com/) and Patrick Farmer (who
>         released a beautiful disc called Apis Mellifera from gently
>         transformed recordings of honey bees).  The latter runs a web
>         label called 'compost and height' which has free downloads of
>         several free eco- / natural-based musical constructions: 
>         *compostandheight*.blogspot.com <http://blogspot.com>
>
>         The sound artist / improvising musician Lee Patterson is also
>         very interesting in this respect, and - like Michael Prime,
>         who you mention - uses a lot of natural phenomena in his work,
>         eg the amplification of sounds given off by burning hazelnuts,
>         and hydrophonic recordings of pondlife etc.  His solo disc
>         'Seven Vignettes' is well worth checking out.
>
>         And several works by the US-based composer Michael Pisaro are
>         also relevant, I think, in particular recent works such as
>         July Mountain, Fields Have Ears and A Wave and Waves, all of
>         which in varying ways use natural phenomena as the basis of
>         their composition.
>
>         And going further back both Christian Wolff and Cornelius
>         Cardew used stones as sound source in works from the 1960's
>         and 70's.
>
>         I can pass on contact details for most of the above-mentioned
>         if you are interested.
>
>         best wishes
>
>         Simon Reynell
>
>         70 High Storrs Road, Sheffield, S11 7LE, UK
>
>         www.anothertimbre.com <http://www.anothertimbre.com>
>
>
>         <http://www.anothertimbre.com>
>
>          
>
>
>
>         
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>         *From:* Simon Roy Christensen 
> <
>         
> </>>
>         *To:* 
>
>         
> </>
>         *Sent:* Thu, 3 June, 2010 0:14:14
>         *Subject:* [silence] music and/including nature in its manner
>         of operation
>
>         hello hello
>
>
>         I hope this is not too off topic, but I'm about to write a
>         music-historical paper/essay on music including nature, or
>         maybe rather the acting of nature. Here I'm thinking of
>         examples like some of Max Eastley's sound sculptures, Paul
>         Panhuysen and Céleste Boursier-Mougenot use of birds,  John
>         Cage's "Atlas Eclipticalis" or the sounds of fungi and plants
>         made audible by Michael Prime, for instance. Some of it
>         probably helped along its way due to Cage's renowned remark of
>         having an art 'imitating nature in its manner of operation'.
>         But maybe there are even pre-Cage examples also?
>
>
>         I was thinking that this might be a good place to ask if any
>         of you can recommend artists, works, literature or something
>         else that spring to mind, which might have some kind of
>         relevance to this - it would be very nice to hear!
>
>
>         thank you, 
>
>
>         simon