Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Caleb Deupree <>]

Perhaps an analogy for tightening or relaxing the string, i.e., moving the 
tuning peg.  So relaxing would be detuning, and tightening would be putting 
it back to concert pitch (and which could be simulated, I imagine)?  Pure 
speculation inspired by the terms “relax” and “tighten” and their specified 
order in the piece.  I’ve heard these terms used by guitarists as they tune 
their instruments.  I don’t play violin, and I don’t know the Cage piece in 
question.
---
Caleb Deupree



> On Apr 18, 2018, at 5:43 AM, Philip Thomas <> wrote:
> 
> It’s a really strange instruction and I have no idea. But worth noting that 
> earlier in the piece the B a semitone lower, held for a bar or so, has the 
> instruction to ‘relax the pitch’. The C at the end, a semitone higher, is 
> part of a dyad, a 9th above the lower B, with the instruction to ‘tighten 
> the pitch’. My guess is it’s something to do with the tuning too, but which 
> way, and in what relation to ‘relaxing the pitch’, is anyone’s guess!
>  
> Philip Thomas
> Professor of Performance
> Admissions Tutor, Music and Music Technology
> T 01484 471336
>  www.hud.ac.uk
> Department of Music and Drama
> University of Huddersfield | Queensgate | Huddersfield | HD1 3DH
> www.philip-thomas.co.uk
>  
> From:  [] On 
> Behalf Of Rob Haskins
> Sent: 12 April 2018 19:46
> To: silence <>
> Subject: [silence] Cage Nocturnes
>  
> A friend is performing the Cage Nocturnes for Violin and Piano and called 
> me today to ask a question about an instruction in the violin part: 
> something about how the violinist, playing a B and C, is instructed to 
> "tighten" the C. I thought it might refer to make the C sharper, narrowing 
> the distance between the two notes. The violinist thinks it is to emphasize 
> the C, making it rougher as played on the string. Does anyone know? I'm 
> sorry that I don't have the score and have no more info than this.
>  
> -- 
> Rob Haskins, D.M.A., Ph.D.
> Professor 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>
> University of Huddersfield inspiring tomorrow's professionals.
> 
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