Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Thomas Moore <>]

Title: Re: [silence] Re: One^5

Yes, isn't that letter to Ellsworth beautiful? I asked John something about One5 one day (I don't recall what), and he started to reply, then got up and returned with a copy of that letter, which he said he had just sent to Ellsworth. He remarked that when he had first heard Ellsworth play the piece he hadn't thought it worked very well -- Ellsworth had played it with many dynamic levels, and John had then concluded that it needed to be played very quietly.

I visited Ellsworth in Madison not long before he passed away, and I wish I had thought to ask him about his way of playing One5. ("My piece!" he said with a great smile.) It's such a beautiful work. I've always allowed the hands to assist one another, playing the vertical collections of notes within individual time brackets as simultaneities, and will go back now and look at it from your (Louie's) perspective. I haven't thought of it as similar to the Etudes Australes in that respect (was just working on AE #X last night!).

Best regards,
Tom Moore

On 11/14/10 2:01 PM, "Louis Goldstein" <> wrote:

  The division between right and left hands creates a kind of choreography of arm movements for the performer,
 like the extremely difficult Etudes Australes.
 
 The instructions for One5 do not say one hand may assist the other.  And they also do not say that the notes in each
 bracket must be played as chords.  When I worked on this piece, I kept the division of hands strictly as indicated,
 but freely played one note at a time.  I think in the end I played almost all of the notes one at a time within their
 brackets, even the notes that were within an easy reach. 
 
 This approach also assists in realizing this written statement of Cage's - I think Rob brought this to our attention
 at some point.  From the Cage Collection at Northwestern U. Library, from a letter to Ellsworth Snyder:
 
         "I have had an idea about One5.  I think it should be played hermetically (which I think you could do superlatively).  That is, it             should be basically inaudible.  So that the actually inaudible, the silences, would be thick with sounds that are not heard or the sounds that are touched are the tips that project from a sea of silence.  So that people listening would not be sure whether they were hearing anything.  You would have to listen very hard.  And fail to hear.  (The music.)"
 
 Louie
 
===========================================================================================
 
 
 On 11/14/2010 1:06 PM, Dionisis Boukouvalas wrote:

 I don't believe this to be canonical. Moreover, One does not follow the same logic as One^5.
 
 

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Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2010 12:16:25 -0500
 From:
 To: ;
 Subject: [silence] Re: RE: One^5
 
 Ah . . . probably that's in One.  But that's common for Cage. He assumes you know all of his performance instructions, I believe.
 
 
2010/11/14 Dionisis Boukouvalas <>
 

 The indication "one hand assists the other" is not to be found here (I mean in the instructions of the piece). You must be referring to another piece.
 
 
 Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2010 12:06:58 -0500
 From:
 To:
 CC:
 Subject: [silence] Re: One^5
 

 
 I think of it as two columns of events, not left hand/right hand. Many of the events in both columns can only be played by two hands, thus "one hand assists the other."
 
 Many silencers have played this piece--I hope they will weigh in.
 
 Rob
 
 
2010/11/14 Dionisis Boukouvalas <>
 

 Same old, I guess, but what is the meaning of dividing between the two hands, since the material given cannot usually be played by one hand alone? Would it make sense to play the material with one hand arpeggiando? Or, should one pick some of the notes for each case?
 
 

 
 
 
 --
 Rob Haskins, Ph.D.
 Associate Professor and
      Coordinator, Graduate Studies
 Department of Music, College of Liberal Arts
 University of New Hampshire
 M-105, Paul Creative Arts Center
 30 Academic Way
 Durham, NH 03824
 603-862-3987 (office)
 603-862-3155 (fax)
 <http://unh.edu/music/>
 <http://robhaskins.net>
 <http://musicandmiscellaneous.blogspot.com/>
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 --
 Rob Haskins, Ph.D.
 Associate Professor and
      Coordinator, Graduate Studies
 Department of Music, College of Liberal Arts
 University of New Hampshire
 M-105, Paul Creative Arts Center
 30 Academic Way
 Durham, NH 03824
 603-862-3987 (office)
 603-862-3155 (fax)
 <http://unh.edu/music/>
 <http://robhaskins.net>
 <http://musicandmiscellaneous.blogspot.com/>
 

-- 

Thomas Moore
UMBC
1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore, MD 21250
410-455-3370