Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Bill Trigg <>]

Any idea where to find such a cartridge?  Not seeing anything online.

On Thu, Mar 3, 2016 at 11:42 AM, Matthew Rogalsky <> wrote:

I was surprised to find nothing in the archives on this topic.  I am
preparing a performance of Branches, and am having difficulty figuring out
how to connect the phonograph cartridge to an amplifier.  None of my tech
people have an answer.  Any assistance you all could offer would be
greatly appreciated!

Given the time of composition, my guess is that Cage was thinking of an
ordinary record player which had built-in amplifer.  For the more high-end
players--like today's record players--you need to plug the device into an
amplifier.  The cartridge by itself (without the tone arm where it usually
belongs) is kind of useless.

Cage was familiar with using phonograph cartridges on their own as contact microphones, going back to at least Cartridge Music (1960).

The type he would have used (pictured) has a hole with a set-screw, to place the stylus (or whatever other object).

Such cartridges can be directly connected to the microphone input of a mixer.

With David Tudor’s equipment collection there are four of this type of cartridge, mounted on an aluminum bars to keep them stable, with alligator clips to attach objects for amplification (no need to touch the set-screw) and a cable ending in a 1/4-inch jack ready to plug in to a mixer. Those could possibly be the same ones Cage used for ‘Branches’, per the description on johncage.org: "Cacti are played by plucking needles with toothpicks, amplifying their sounds via cartridge-like attachments, originally constructed by John D. Fullemann.”

best,

Matt