Page 307 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

CONTEMPORARY 305

One of John Cage’s aleatory methods
Music of Changes

In 1951, Cage was given a copy
of the I Ching by the American
composer Christian Wolff. Also
known as the Book of Changes,
this ancient Chinese text used
for divination inspired the title
Cage tossed I Ching Random numbers of Cage’s Music of Changes
coins to arrive were also derived and came to inform much of
at numbers that from the Chinese its content. Enthralled by the
are then fed tradition of sorting concept of chance music, Cage
into the I Ching, and counting yarrow wrote the piece by making
an ancient sticks and then used charts that, when used in
Chinese system to consult the I Ching. conjunction with the I Ching,
of divination. generated pitches, note
durations, dynamics, tempi,
silences, and even determined
how many layers of sound
Cage created a series of charts would be used. The resulting
to translate the results of his findings rhythms were too complex
into sounds (including silence), to notate. Cage therefore
duration, and volume. used proportional notation, in
which the distance between
notes on the page determined
decides not to.” Equally challenging notation was the graphic score. how long they were. In
to musical orthodoxy were some This generally presented very few addition to this, some parts
of American composer Morton parameters for the performers of the composition were to be
Feldman’s works, which sought and instead proffered a visual played on the piano strings
to redefine the act of listening by provocation against which they directly, and the pianist used
unfolding music very slowly on a could create music. Some of these beaters to create percussive
very large scale. Some listeners were a set of visual instructions sounds on the piano’s exterior.
used to classical works, which defining the broad shape of the The result was a piece for solo
average 25 to 30 minutes, were music, such as Cage’s Aria (1958), piano in four books, which
dismayed by his Second String but others presented complex and posed demanding challenges
Quartet (1983), which lasts some subtle imagery that bore little for David Tudor, Cage’s
customary pianist.
five hours in performance and relation to a performable sound.
defies conventional development. The preeminent example of
In music on such a scale, which a graphic musical score was
is seldom loud and never fast, and British composer Cornelius
where changes are subtle, each Cardew’s Treatise (1963–1967), a
sound takes on its own meaning. 193-page graphic score that allows
total interpretative freedom but
Graphic scores expects the performers to decide Every something
Composers also sought to create on the meaning of certain features is an echo
notation that might empower rather in the score beforehand. Indeed, of nothing.
than enslave the performer. In as traditions of performance began John Cage
his notation for Projections and to coalesce, graphic scores were
Intersections (1950–1953), Feldman seldom used as inspirations for
allowed the players to choose improvisation but as a way for
pitches and rhythms themselves. performer and composer to have
The most important new form of equal responsibility for the work. ■

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