--- In Bernie Krause <>
wrote:
>
> John Cage once observed that the most important element in music was
> periods of silence.
>
> Bernie
Cage's 3'22" to which you may be referring is not 'silence' per se,
though I accept it would probably contain some periods of silence. The
piece begins and ends with the performer opening and closing the piano
lid, which makes a noise. In between, the noise of the audience in the
auditorium (coughing, breathing, shuffling programme notes, talking
etc !)and that made by the performer is the actual 'piece'.
I am reminded of a funny scenerio as a Batchelors music student when a
friend of mine had to give a talk on Cage's 3'22". He was so diligent
that he wanted to use audio musical examples and even went to great
lengths to purchase an expensive import of a Cage CD containing the
piece from Tower Records. We all thought he was nuts - why not just
record 3'22" of 'air' in the Uni sudio ? But to our surprise the
performance of 3'22" on his CD was anything but silent and indeed was a
unique performance in its own right, just as Cage intended.
I have always thought of the silence, or near silence (!) at the
beginning and end of a piece of music as the very structures
that 'frame' the art. This would also seem to apply to bird song.
Lindsay
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