John Cage

Question 1

Context of John Cage

Answer 1

• 1912-1992 was an American avant-garde composer
• Pupil of Henry Cowell who experimented with extreme chromaticism, rhythmic complexity, graphic notion and extended piano techniques
• Some of Cage’s most notable works stemmed from his work as an accompanist for the dancer and choreographer, Merce Cunningham

Question 2

Cage’s interest in prepared piano

Answer 2

• An interest if providing percussion music for dance led Cage to develop the ‘prepared piano’ in an attempt to save space and money
• A prepared piano involved altering the sound through the insertion of various items between the strings
• His most famous prepared piano work is Sonatas and Interludes (1948)
• The prescribed work for 2 amplified prepared pianos was completed in 1945 and was eventually used for dance purposes by Cunningham in Dromenon (1947)

Question 3

Cage’s influences

Answer 3

• Eastern philosophy and religion (Sonatas and Interludes)
• The role of silence (4’33’)
• Aleatoric music, or ‘chance music’ (Music of Changes)

Question 4

Notation

Answer 4

• Full score with traditional staff notation
• However, accidentals only apply to the note they precede and not the whole bar
• Boxed numerals above the score act as reference points indicating the start of a new phrase in the underlying structure
• In the Anthology, pedals are indicated with the directions ‘Una Corda’ (quiet pedal) and ‘tre corde’ (end quiet pedal)

Question 5

Describe the sonority

Answer 5

• Sonority and timbre depend on the preparations that Cage prescribed
• Preparation involves the insertion of so called ‘mutes’ between strings of the piano keys used
• Different materials are used such as: metal bolts and screws, weather strip, rubber, plastic and coins
• Only the prepared notes appear in the course of the composition, and not all keys of the pianos have to be prepared
• A range of timbres results, from dead to gong-like
• Pitch, however, is distorted considerably, meaning that the score cannot be taken as a reliable guide to the resulting sound
• Though preparation instructions are detailed, it would be impossible to create same effect from one performance to another

Question 6

Describe the Dynamics

Answer 6

• The dynamic level is mainly soft
• For extended sections there is little dynamic change (e.g. the opening part)
• There is an effective contrast between ppp just before phrase 36 and FF at phrase 38
• Accents are frequently employed (e.g. right hand of piano 1, phrases 38-40)

Question 7

Describe the Texture

Answer 7

• The texture is mainly contrapuntal, with the two piano parts frequently working independently
• A two-part texture is used for each piano

Other features include:

• Monophony (phrase 4, from bar 14)
• A sort of melody-dominated homophony (from phrase 38)
• Homorhythm (from phrase 7)

Question 8

Describe the tempo,metre and rhythm

Answer 8

• Tempo is a fast duple time (2/2) throughout at 88bpm (not 88 crotchets per min as is written in the score)
• Note values are mainly quavers and crotchets
• Duple metre is disrupted through cross-rhythms, mainly groupings of three quavers at a time ( see piano 1 opening)
• Piano 2 works against piano 1’s opening rhythm with a steady crotchet pattern in the left hand and off-beat quavers in the right hand
• Notice however, that the left hand figure in piano 2 consists of a seven crotchet ostinato, also working against the written duple time

Question 9

Describe the structure

Answer 9

• Like many works of this period, Cage’s structure for this piece is based on a fractal mathematical approach, also known as mico-macrocosmic design

Here the proportions are used on a small scale also operate on the movement’s overall structure:

• Dance No.1 consists of nine 30-bar parts
• Each part is sub-divided into nine phrases, signalled by the boxed numerals in the score
• The phrases in all parts have the following bar-lengths:

252-262-272

• It is highly unlikely that the listener is aware of these proportions in performance
• Traditional large-scale dance forms are avoided, but there are some repetitions, e.g. the final 30-bar section is a repeat of the one preceding
• There are a number of other smaller-scale repetitions, including the reappearance of the number of motifs from the first two parts in the final parts, e.g. the three-quaver motif from bar 5 returns at phrases 64 and 73

Question 10

Describe the Tonality

Answer 10

• There can be no sense of tonality underpinning the movements structure, given the nature of a prepared piano. In other words, there are no exact pitches creating a hierarchy of sounds revolving of sounds revolving around a tonic

Question 11

Describe the melody and harmony

Answer 11

• For the same reason there is an unfixed pitch it is impossible to speak of melodic line or harmonic content.