Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Joseph Zitt <>]

What a wonderful discussion!

I have been wanting to perform 0'00" for quite a while, realizing that it is a very musical piece. These are the steps that i would do in my realization:

I make the promise to the people gathered that i will serve them rice in about half an hour.

! attach contact mics to my rice cooker, and pour the rice and water into the cooker.

I turn on the cooker and then the amplification, which is cranked to the maximum level possible without feedback (approximately 11 :-] )

When the cooker clicks to "warm", I turn off the amplification, and serve the rice (with possible added elements) to the people assembled.

Thus the piece indeed is a piece of music consisting of the beautiful sounds that my rice cooker makes while cooking. They would be of a certain predictable type of sound but unpredictable. In this, the piece is rather close to "Inlets."

By the way, I would have the amplification off during the pouring-in of rice and water, and during the serving since those sounds are much louder than the cooking itself, and would mean that we would have to set the amplification lower to avoid feedback.

(If anyone in Cleveland is planning any events for Cage's centennial, I would be eager to join in. There are other of his works that I'm also eager to perform.)
--
Joseph Zitt ::http://www.josephzitt.com