Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Tim Ovens <>]

Hi Philip, hi all

thanks for the prompt reply. Strange, the bars in my (newly bought) 
Music of Changes are 7.8 length. I found this information: "[The] 
available Peters edition unwisely reduces Cage’s original to 85% 
(presumably the original sheets were 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.). Instead of 
10cm 4/4 measures, the two-measure systems actually span 17cm." 
(http://www.lafolia.com/archive/covell/covell200604cage1951.html)

For the Haiku the score makes sense - only that it is terrible to read. 
It is beautyful but more people could and would play them if there would 
be a more legible score. What I do not understand are the remarks. They 
are copied from the "Music of Changes", and just added here, right?  The 
rhythmic structure 3 - 5 - 6 3/4 - ... you find in the "Changes", but 
not in the Haiku I suppose. And the remark about the duration in space 
(2.1/2 cm is a quarter note) also makes no sense here, shoul be 1/2 Inch 
= quarter note. I think Peters should add an explaining forward. It is 
nice to solve riddles, but sometimes I would like to spend more time on 
playing and less on solving riddles.

Do you, or does anyone know why the first four Haiku have the 2.5 - 3.5 
- 2.5 structure (evoking the Haiku) but the succeeding only are divided 
to two parts (2.5 - 6)?

May I ask for any opinions on the realisation of the fractions, Cage 
writes over or under many notes or rests, for example in the first Haiku 
he writes under the first eigth-note rest 1/3. I suppose this means that 
it is as long as a triplet-eigth-note rest. After this comes a "normal" 
sixteenth-note rest, followed by quarter note c tied to another quarter 
note c. Over this he writes 2/3, so this tied c is as long as two 
triplet-note eigths. And then again tied another c, which is a four 
dotted half-note. Could one say that the lenght of this tied notes 
(quarter+two triplet eight-notes+four dotted half-note) is a sort of 
non-real rhythm? On one hand I have to hold the first quarter note much 
longer than one quarter note (according to the space notation). On the 
other hand the rhythm is inaudible because of the tiing of the notes.

So we can concentrate on counting as attentive as possible or we just 
follow the spatial notation - also as attentive as possible. Two ways 
which should be correct, one terrible difficult, the other surprisingly 
simple. Such is life?

Tim

Am 26.08.11 14:10, schrieb Philip Thomas:
> 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
>
>
> ---
> This transmission is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you 
> receive it in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail and remove it 
> from your system. If the content of this e-mail does not relate to the 
> business of the University of Huddersfield, then we do not endorse it and 
> will accept no liability.