Aleatoric Music Of The 20th Century Music Essay

Aleatoric Music Of The twentieth Century Music shew ideaal and instrumental methods utilized by tail end chicken coop. The biographical background, educational shapes and examples of the euphonyal compositions of cage go out also be illustrated. This paper continues by describing the various methods and processes employed by throne cage in the governing body of medicament written during the minimalist movement. Contrived instruments, ambient audience noise, non-traditional tactual sensation structures and electronic medicament testament be identified and defined. Furthermore, this paper will explore the debate over aleatoric medical specialty as art striving versus noise. Traditionally, Western music is risquely structured and organized- however, music written in unpredictable pains generally lacks traditional instrumentation, age, and other methods present in Western forms. According to whom one would ask, aleatoric music give notice be exceedingly complex, e motional and knowing. On the other hand, there are those who believe aleatoric music is nothing more than random noise with no structure, rhyme or reason. Over the course of this paper, the reader will be able to get it on that aleatoric music is a definitive musical theater genre.iiAleatoric Music of the 20th CenturyCompositions of buns batting cage An wile Form, Not Noise entreAleatoric music refers to musical compositions where rough aspect of the music is left to discover. The tempo, instrumentation, dynamics, send of the written music, or various other devices can be manipulated. plain put, aleatoric music is left up to some make sense of chance. However, the amount of chance is not immeasurable. In many cases, the composer only allows a portion of the full(a) composition to chance while the rest conforms to commonplace Western-influenced counterpoint. The American composer John batting cage was one of the foremost composers who utilized aleatory in musical whole kit. He was also the generate of the avant-garde in music during the minimalist movement.THESISBy studying the devices used in Cages compositions, the blood will be cl betimes made that aleatoric music, while sometimes put d give birth in form and function, is clearly a structured art form and not random noise.iiAleatoric Music of the 20th CenturyCompositions of John Cage An Art Form, Not NoiseOut quarterAleatoric MusicExplicative definition of aleatoric musicOverview of aleatoric devicesJohn CageEarly life and educationB. Utilization of aleatoric devices in compositionsThesis supportCompare and contrast with opposing viewpoint screw and dismiss opposing view utilizing evidenciary supportConclusionSummarize principal(prenominal) pointsReinforce the argument that aleatoric music is not randomMarkham 1Selena Markhamgenus Mus 2930Dr. Valerie AustinNovember 22, 2010Aleatoric Music of the 20th CenturyCompositions of John Cage An Art Form, Not NoiseAleatoric music refers to musica l compositions where some aspect of the music is left to chance. The tempo, instrumentation, dynamics, order of the written music, or various other devices can be manipulated. Simply put, aleatoric music is left up to some amount of chance. However, the amount of chance is not immeasurable. In many cases, the composer only allows a portion of the entire composition to chance while the rest conforms to standard Western-influenced counterpoint. The American composer John Cage was one of the foremost composers who utilized aleatory in musical flora. He was also the father of the avant-garde in music during the minimalist movement. By studying the devices used in Cages compositions, the argument will be clearly made that aleatoric music, while sometimes free in form and function, is clearly a structured art form and not random noise.One of the most prolific composers of music in aleatory, John Cage, was born September 5, 1912 in Los Angeles, California. He was the only sister ofMarkha m 2parents Lucretia and John Cage, Sr. ( cardinal other sons passed away as infants). His father was an inventor and his mother worked on and off as a source for the Los Angeles Times. The couple met in Greeley, Colorado. John Cage, Sr.s father was a Baptist minister who mat music was of the Devil. His mother, Lucretia (her maiden name was Harvey) was considered rebellious because she read books (a practice her family forbade). The recent couple fled the restrictive atmosphere of Colorado for the more welcoming call forth of California. John Cage, Sr. had an avid interest in undersea vessels and, in fact, invented a device that was used in the English Channel to successfully detect German submarines during World War I. The intellect and innovative liven of his mother and father would serve young Cage wholesome end-to-end his lifetime. (Rich 142).As early as age eight, the young Cage began to submit an interest for music that was slightly outdoor(a) of the norm. While takin g lightly lessons with his aunt, the young boy confessed he enjoyed the music of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (Rich 145). When Cage graduate in 1928, his grades earned him the record of having the best academics in Los Angeles High Schools history. From lofty school, Cage spent two years at Pomona College (Struble 287).While at Pomona College, he studied ministry and writing. (Rich 145). Cage then went on hiatus to europium for two years. While there, he composed many short works, some using mathematical formulas. Unfortunately, Cage didMarkham 3not save these early works- as he traveled, he would go through his belongings and put to sleep any non-essential items in order to lighten his load (Nicholls 175).He returned to the united States in 1931 and in 1933, John Cage began to study easy under Richard Buhlig, who introduced the composer to serialism, an aleatoric musical device. Serialism is music which has been written with a high spirit level of organization (Brindle 17). Since Buhlig had premiered serialist composer Arnold Schoenbergs composition Three Piano Pieces, Cage hoped Buhlig would introduce him to Schoenberg. Instead, Cages first gear published man, Sonata for Clarinet (1933), brought him to the attention of Henry Cowell, a professor teaching the freshly music at the New Music Society of California in San Francisco. Though Cage was able to informally study with Schoenberg, Cowell was his primary influence (Lipman 22).The Sonata for Clarinet also shows how Cage used serialism to reproduce the alike presentes in retrograde in the last movement from the first movement of the same composition in a highly organized fashion. Ironically, when the Sonata for Clarinet premiered, Cage nominate himself performing it on piano because the clarinetist was unable to do so (Nicholls 176).Over the course of the next two years (1933-34), John Cage invented a new technique called 25-pitch non-repetitive serialism. In this technique, each voice is trammel to a twenty-five note pitch area and no pitch can be repeatedMarkham 4until all twenty-five expect been played. He also used this technique in three excess pieces he wrote during this period the Sonata for Two Voices (Nov. 1933), Composition for Three Voices (1934) and Solo and sextette Short Inventions (1933-34). The use of this technique was generally not harmonically unfathomed with the exception of a few phrases (Nicholls 177).John Cage composed two pieces in 1935 (Three Pieces for Flute Duet and Two Pieces for Piano) that also used the serialism technique. The harmony was paired with a highly chromatic melodic line that made the pieces overwhelmingly contrapuntal. However, these pieces tended to possess a higher percentage of harmonically pleasing subject matter (Nicholls 184). These works also coincided with his introduction to Merce Cunningham, an author, choreographer and Cages long love interest. As a result, Cage began to be interested in how music correlated w ith trip the light fantastic toe. John Cage and Merce Cunningham collaborated to organize performances using Cages music and Cunninghams choreography over the course of their lifetimes (Thomson 77). other interesting device John Cage used in his composition was ambient noise. In his piece 4 33 (1952), a piano or any ensemble is to conduct themselves as if they were preparing to play. However, the instrument(s) or performer(s) never utter a unequaled sound- for the entire four minutes andMarkham 5thirty-three seconds. The idea is to attune ones self with the ambient noise of the room, the noise entering the room from outside and the natural noises of the people within (Lipman 30). The piece has also been said to be an example of freedom in general (Brindle 122). This work had its premiere by pianist David Tudor in Woodstock, New York, on August 29, 1952, in the Maverick Concert Hall (located near where the 1969 Woodstock Festival was held). Cage (interviewed in the late 1980s by W illiam Duckworth) verbalize that he listened to the piece any day and that in Indian culture, it is we that turn away from the music. However, the music is forever and a day there (Bonds 588-589).An original device employed by John Cage was an invention all his own- the prepared piano. A prepared piano is a grand piano where the inside strings are manipulated by exotic objects to produce a twelve-tone scale. Such was the case with Cages composition Bacchanale (1940)- a percussive piece he was commissioned to write to be performed with a dance group. The work was originally intended for percussion instruments, only when was relegated to the prepared piano when it was deemed the concert hall was too small for all of the required instrumentation. Cage required that bolts and weatherstripping be attached to the strings connected to the 12 diverse notes (Bonds 590).John Cages influence in the realm of electronic music began as early as 1937. His composition Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (1939) was one of the firstMarkham 6written in the electronic genre. It consisted of save oscillatory frequencies on two 78rpm gramophone records (Brindle 99). He also wrote a piece comprised of fifty-one tapes (each twenty minutes long) produced on the computer clay of Illinois University (Illiac) that could be played in any order along with cardinal live harpsichords and a light show of sorts. This piece was written in 1967 and titled HPSCHD (Brindle 125).John Cage began to write pieces titled by the recite of performers later in his life. For example, the work titled One (1987) was for one pianist. Another work, titled Five (1988) was for string quintet. These pieces are dubbed compute pieces (Moser 31). nonetheless these peerless little pieces gravel a structure- the structure organism the amount of time the performer has to perform each measure and the number of musicians required for performance.As illustrated with the devices John Cage used in his compositions, his works are really structured and organized. Cage was one of the total serialists, who felt that music composition could be planned and analyzed with the precision of scientific experiments (Lipman 56). In his own words during a lecture in Darmstadt in 1958The function of the performer is comparable to(predicate) to that of someonefilling in color where outlines are apt(p) is that of giving form,providing, that is to say, the morphology of the continuity, theMarkham 7expressive content is that of a photographer who on obtaining a camera uses it to take a picture is comparable to that of atraveler who must constantly be catching trains the departures ofwhich gift not been announced but which are in the process ofbeing announced (Moser 8).It is clear by reading these words that Cage finds his music to have form, which is a staple of Western music. In addition, his music is generally left up to the interpretation of the performer- definitively not an aspect of Western music. Even still, form is readily detectable within his works regardless of how the stated form is interpreted by the performers.Another argument concerning music in aleatory is that there are no determinate ways to discern the number of possible arrangements. This simply is not true the exact number of realizations of an indeterminate score can often be determined (Moser 11).In conclusion, John Cage lived during an exciting time in American history. beneficial after his birth in 1912, the United States found itself fully employed in World War I. The United States truly became a institution power during this time. The enlightenment through his well-rounded and educated parents as well as theMarkham 8excitement and innovations of the new century served John Cage well, as he was able to thrive and grow as an intellectual and musician in this environment. Although his music is sounds extremely dissonant and non-harmonic, it exhibits a high amount of structure. Cages earlier works illustrate a mathematical salute to the music- meaning that the music makes sense based on mathematical principles, but not necessarily traditional ideals surrounding musical composition. The influence of John Cages music can certainly be felt today in late 20th century jazz and numerous other works that allow the performers greater freedoms. Take, for instance, the piece recently performed on the campus of the University of join Carolina at Pembroke. Dr. Joanna Hersey premiered a work for her Low Brass ensemble at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke titled Sails, Whales and Whalers (2008) by Gary Buttery. This work included recorded hunt down song interspersed with the live music produced by the Low Brass Ensemble (Hersey Krosschell). Perhaps Gary Butterys composition was influenced in some way by the works of John Cage. There is no doubt that many musicians past, present, and future have been and will continue to be influenced by Cages maverick attitude toward music.Markham 9