Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Rob Haskins <>]

The library at the Eastman School of Music has a bunch of Cage scores (in the M3s, i.e. collected works) that were issued shortly after he signed his contract with Peters. That group of scores includes the Concert for Piano and Orchestra and other works including (I would guess) Haiku. The page size, I'm 99% sure, is larger than 8.5 x 11.  You might be able to get ESM to make copies of these materials for you or at least to check on the measurements of Haiku. I've copied the head of public services at the Sibley Music Library, Jim Farrington, who might be able to respond and tell us what next step to take.

Rob

On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 8:10 AM, Philip Thomas <> wrote:

Hi Tim

My copy of Seven Haiku, from which I play, marks a unit of 1/2 inch to be equal to MM 60. This is borne out, so that bars are of lengths 2.5 inches, 3.5 inches and 2.5 inches (i.e. units of 5, 7, 5, to match haiku). As you say, however, it does make reading the score very difficult and parts are indecipherable.

However my copy of Music of Changes does not match Cage's measurements. Cage writes that quarter note = 2.5 cm and notates the score in bars of 4 units. However each of my bars is 8.6 cm length, again making the notation rather small and difficult to read in the most dense passages.

Thus my understanding is that 7 haiku is (frustratingly) correct but Music of Changes is a reduction in print size.
Best wishes
Philip


_____________________

www.philip-thomas.co.uk
Dr. Philip Thomas
Senior Lecturer, Music Department
University of Huddersfield
Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH
Tel: 01484 471336
www.hud.ac.uk/mhm/mmt

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Ovens [mailto:]
Sent: 26 August 2011 12:59
To:
Subject: [silence] Score Size (7 Haiku, Music of Changes)


Hi all,

for long time I have been out of this list. Can anyone tell me how the search
in the archive is working now? For example I could not find any entry for the
words Haiku or Changes, but I am sure there are any.

Are there any old editions with Seven Haiku or Music of Changes? I did contact
Gene Caprioglio from Peters in New York, but he wrote:
"8.5 by 11 inches IS the size intended by Cage.   Is your copy 8.5x11?  The
height of the staff should be a tiny bit over 1/8 inch.  If it is, than carry
on, you have the correct music.   If there are larger copies extant, they are
wrong.   They should be ignored.   They were not produced by C.F. Peters
Corporation."

But in this size Cages remarks on the space and time make no sense. Besides
this Haiku score is in parts not legible (e.g. no. 5), because the handwriting
is smeared over by the diminuishing. How do you handle with this?

Best,
Tim

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