Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[William Brooks <>]

Hello, everyone—

For what it’s worth (Nothing, I hope), I’ve performed the Lecture on Nothing several times. My view is that strict adherence to the prescribed tempo (one second per unit of prose) produces (a) complex and unpredictable rhythms because of the interaction the rigorous tempo with constraints of syntax and breath; (b) clear problems in delivery, for the same reason, that require investigating, choosing among, and practicing alternative solutions _in advance_; and (c) an enforced attention to something other than what is being said, which can assist in quieting the ego. I usually practice with a metronome for several iterations, then attempt to internalise the reading so that an actual timekeeper is not necessary. When a problem has several alternative answers (e.g., where does a one-syllable word go in its one-second “time bracket"—beginning, end or centered?), I try when possible to use chance operations to settle the question. 

Where is the “nothing” that this lecture concerns? It seems to me that it resides in that which lies behind the words, not (of course) in the words themselves. Behind the words lies only (and always) time; there _is_ Nothing to time, at least for Cage in the 1950s, because time cannot be captured, only experienced, and the culture he occupied then—generally—required that “things” take tangible, manipulable, archivable form. Time does not; therefore it is No Thing. 

For me, performing the Lecture on Nothing has thus opened up the historical links between Cage, the pragmatists (broadly conceived), and transcendentalism. The performances were also very important, in retrospect, in allowing me to grasp and apply W. B. Yeats’s compositional practice, which consisted in chanting a line or series of lines over and over until they achieved a fixed sonic form—the objective being to pass beyond the surface level of meaning and syntax to something more mysterious (not exactly “music,” but certainly not merely “poetry”) that lay beyond. That, in turn, explains a little about Cage’s affection for Finnegans Wake and his remarkable performance in recording _Roaratorio_. 

Best wishes to all, and please vote in November. 

Bill  

William Brooks

Professor of Music
University of York
Heslington, York YO10 5DD
United Kingdom 
(01904-324449)

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On Aug 23, 2020, at 18:52, Rod Stasick <> wrote:

Sorry, I’m just now seeing this (I have to check spam filters sometimes

in order to retrieve things from the list).

I’m glad that Christian got something positive out of the performance.

I did too, but, it was usually during times when Wilson wasn’t involved.

I disagree tho, that performers can only fail when it comes to comparisons 

to Cage himself. People’s performances can lie anywhere on the line that

bisects the original composer/performer/artist in practically all artistic

endeavors and I don’t think there should be any sacred upholding of 

origination in this instance as well. Also, I don’t believe there is a reading 

of this text by Cage available, but I could be mistaken.

For me - and, again, this is just my desire and not an expectation of others’ desires - 

it is the right balance of intuition about the nature of the composer and text

coupled with a respect for the ambient sound in which the text is recited that 

jump-starts my interest in attending such a reading (virtually or otherwise).

Yes, the performer, just by actually deciding to ask for 45+ minutes of your time,

presents an ego wanting to be heard, but when it overwhelms the performance

to the point where the initial intent gets chucked out of the performance space,

then that’s when I have a problem with it. Plus, there are a myriad of ways in which

one’s own personal realization of the text can enhance ways of experiencing the text.

Just sound alone (for me, the most important in almost all instances) can be a 

determining factor - the ambient sound mixed with the sound of the reader’s voice,

for instance. 

Kenneth Goldsmith did a reading a number of years ago in, I think, Portugal.

For me, Goldsmith’s voice is a bit on the higher-pitch and slightly uncertain side

of where I’d like to enjoy the reading, but it was performed in an intimate outdoor space 

with sounds of traffic and various forms of people-movement that created a pleasant

and more promising realization - and it didn’t SCREAM "Kenneth Goldsmith” at me

unlike Wilson’s reading (and sundry movements and attention-drawing episodes) that 

seemed to shriek “Here I am. This is me.” Wilson could’ve even had a complex backdrop - 

as he is wont to do - and read the text without his grandiloquence and it could’ve

potentially been a delightful evening that would be true to the ideals of Cage as well 

as presenting, silently, the ideas of Robert Wilson himself. An opportunity, sadly lost.

Rod

On Aug 13, 2020, at 04:53, Christian Kesten <> wrote:

Hi Silencers,

thank you for your observations, it is interesting to follow the irritations, Wilson’s interpretation caused.

This homemade stream (archived here: https://tinyurl.com/yyxrceqw) is indeed just a poor torso of his staged performance (which I saw in Berlin in 2012 I think). I was first shocked about Wilson’s version, but slowly, as the performance went on, I accepted it, and realized he had no choice. Compared to John Cage’s evenness and non-intentionality when reading it, he, Wilson, could only fail. Therefore I find it clever to play the excerpt of the recording of John’s reading—the most beautiful moment, I agree—and to build a character to contrast it.

And more and more, as the performance went on, I found it more and more entertaining. In fact, when he was screaming the last part before the actual longer silence, I had to burst out into laughter. 

I think it might be unfair to blame Wilson for pouring his ego over the piece. Maybe it is ego to use one’s life-longly developed artistic methods and techniques. Maybe it is not Cage’s work anymore, or if so, then simultaneously Wilson’s commentary to it. But I find it witty what he did.

Would anybody here be able to tell me, where the recording of John Cage’s reading of Lecture on Nothing is available/ accessible/ listenable to? This snippet made me longing for listening to the whole. Hints are mostly appreciated.

And looking forward to the re-issue of Incontri Muscali.

Best to all of you,

Christian

Christian Kesten

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