Open Call
JOHN CAGE OF WHAT IS AND WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

A. een werk van ondergetekende naar het idee van Nicole Van Vlaanderen voor  gemengde kleurig ballon ensemble genaamd "Do you hear Air". 

 

   Legenda "Do you hear Air"     

        
B.  een werk van ondergetekende genaamd "Binair" .Tellen in een 4/4 maat van 0 naar 15 en terug in het binaire stelsel door middel van muziek met een analoge melodie daar boven op.
Bij elke binaire tel overheerst deze de binaire noot. De analoge melodie bestaat uit bijv: "Drie kleine kleutertjes die zaten op een hek"-"Vader Jacob"- " Op een klein stationnetje."  

             

by MARC THORMAN

1. Was It A Joke?
Cage explains the composition of his "silent" piece titled  4'33''   in which an unspecified number of performers play nothing for four minutes and thiry-three seconds. In this section the pianist follows the speech rhythms and contours of  both the questions and responses, but confines the questioner's part to the low register of the piano. Chance operations determine textures, and which phrases are accompanied (or omitted).  

2. Empty Paintings
In his answer to the second questioner, Cage credits Robert Rauschenberg's "White Paintings" as encouraging him to create 4'33''. Rauschenberg painted canvasses matte white and allowed shadows, light, and dust to play on the surfaces. In a similar way 4'33'' provides an empty time frame for environmental sounds.  In this section the pianist produces a single sound on all syllables containing  the empty letter O. Sounds for the questioner are played on the mid-range keys and sounds for Cage's response are produced by playing directly on the piano strings, an innovation of his mentor Henry Cowell. 

3. Hunting for Mushrooms
The spoken question has been omitted and is instead assigned to the pianist, who duplicates the original spoken rhythms with repeated high-register notes and chords.  I edited Cage's response using his own methodology of chopping up and recombining words using a poetic form he invented called a mesostic. Four short spoken phrases omitted from the mesostic are instead played during pauses in the spoken text, each in a distinctive register, their order improvised.  

4. A Clam Went Up
The piano is silent during the question. Cage's answer is omitted from playback, and is instead played by the pianist. It involves a story about a small "aquarium" in Seattle with just a few tanks of water. "After awhile a clam went up to the top, and having gotten some air sailed back down .. and when he got to the bottom, that disturbed others and they went up and shortly it was a magnificent display." He then describes how he used this image of rising and falling to make a series of etchings, and later adapted the procedure for Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras. The piano part is a series of canons that increase in complexity and then settle down again. I have maintained Cage's speech rhythms, but each voice in the texture moves only up and down the full length of the keyboard. 

5. Do Something for Music
The questioner asks several questions, including follow-up questions to Cage's responses, but the spoken questions have been completely omitted. The piano plays the questioner's "part," follows his speech rhythms, using from 1 to 6 notes per syllable as determined by chance operations. The original spoken pitch contours are greatly expanded. During Cage's answers the pianist prepares the piano for the next section. 

6. Freedom From Memory
This section is actually a  combination of  two responses to questions, both answers concerning Cage's Zen-like philosophy of acceptance.  In the first part he discusses  how he came to terms with his dislike of recordings by thinking of them as components of theater; in the second part he talks about  being able to enjoy unexpected results when other pianists' performed his compositions for prepared piano. Nearly all the strings in the piano are prepared for this section. The pianist follows Cage's speech contours and rhythms but in much faster or slower tempi, improvising their order, and also plays recordings and a radio. 

(walking the 'timmerfabriek')

Wanneer lichamen in de gecontroleerde orde van de architectuur binnendringen, snijden ze onverwachte ruimtes uit door hun vloeiende of dwalende bewegingen. Hiermee schenden ze het evenwicht van een precies geordende geometrie. De invloed van beweging op de ruimte laat haar klinken; de zo vanzelfsprekende nagalm van een voetstap wordt tot onderwerp verheven en legt het auditieve karakter van het gebouw bloot.

When bodies penetrate the controlled order of architecture, they cut out unexpected spaces because of their flowing or wandering movements. By doing this, they violate the balance of a precisely ordered geometry. The influence of movement on space makes her shiver; the self-evident reverberation of a footstep becomes the subject and exposes the auditive character of the building.

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Tomáš Procházka/HANDA GOTE research and development (CZ)
Ontvangen op 20 augustus 2010

We are artistic group HANDA GOTE research and development and we would be happy to contribute your John Cage project.
We recently prepared a show which is partly inspired by some of his ideas and interests. The name of the show is HOUBY/THE MUSHROOMS. We were investigating whether there is connection between mushrooms, music and spirituality. We were inspired by John Cages activity as a mycologist and possible connection with performance projects. We share the same passion for the mushroom, experimental music and mixing the genres and media on stage. John Cage is surely one of our biggest inspirations.

 

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Mike Kramer (NL)
Ontvangen op 20 augustus 2010

VOORSTEL OPEN CALL - "Whispering Wall"

Voor de Open Call wordt de constant in ontwikkeling zijnde klankinstallatie "Whispering Wall" voorgesteld. Hierbij wordt gebruik gemaakt van geluiden van muren en vloeren en objecten die daarmee in contact staan, opgenomen met contactmicrofoons. De ontstane 'microsounds' worden vervolgens willekeurig bewerkt en daaropvolgend afgespeeld via speakers die omgekeerd op de locatie van opname worden aangebracht. Hierbij word een bescheiden volume gehanteerd waarmee een intimiteit gewaarborgd wordt t.a.v. de opgenomen geluiden. Anderzijds onstaat een 'schijnbaar' dialoog tussen de bron van opname en de speakers van waaruit het gereproduceerde geluid afkomstig is. Een knipoog naar 4'33"!

                Ingezonden voorstel door Stichting LOGOS: Pneumofoon project

                                         

              

"My proposal concerns John Cage's Song Books, which i worked on for my final project of my MA degree. Song Books is a very interesting, unconventional work and one of its main characteristics is the unique performances it offers, due to its indeterminate nature." 

    Voorstel John Cage's Song Books            Description of the solos

                      

The technical requirements for the performance, would be 3 microphones (one of which wireless) and two stands, 2 projectors, 2 sound speakers, a sound table, a laptop, and a big table.

Markus Binner (DE)
Ontvangen op 20 augustus 2010

Ingezonden voorstel van Markus Binner:  silent pieces?

  

"It could be shown in different media: 
as a paperwork on cardboard, in different sizes, as a brochure or digital. and it is part of a silent music concert."

Video: Play me, I'm yours