ExpERIMENTALISM - Margaret Noble

F Chapter 6 -ExpERIMENTALISMFuNonvsNrnlsas everything" both qualify. The influence of artistssuch as Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Robert Rauschenberg,Wassily Kandinsky, and many others has beenprofound. Mainstream composers like Schoenbergwho was himself an expressionist painter of repute,and Stravinsky were influenced by expressionisticpainters like Picasso. h" -h ffflryb cross-relationships,particularly between compose-is and artistssuch as Erik Satie (Man Ray), John Cage (Robert Rauschenberg),and Earle Brown (Alexander Calder),abound (Higgins 1966).The music of Erik Satie, particularly in works likeVexations (L893?, a2*how marathon work for piano),appear among the first to clearly demonstrate experimentaltendencies (Painter 1992). The Musicnl Sculpture(undated) by Marcel Duchamp is also noteworthyas an example of concept art. Duchamp's early workThe Bride Stripped Bnre by Her Bachelors, Euen is especiallyprovocative. His Erratum Musical (1913) substifutesnumbers for notes. Petr Kotik has made twocurrent realizations, one for two pianos, the other forfive instruments. The dada artists and later the antiart,concept art, and minimal art movements have all precededparallel activities in music (Motherwell 1951).Paul Noug4 active in the surrealistic movement,points out in his Music Is Dangerous (1929) that mostknown uses of music-relaxation, forgetting, andpleasure-are but subtlefacades for music,s emotionaldangers, drawing proofs from ancient modal theorieswherein each mode provoked distinct emotions (pt rygian:excitemenf lydian: calming; etc.). Noug6's iaticmusic attempts to establish music's profound remedialcapabilities. Most important, however, Noug6 proposesthat audiences are not safe from musical effects:"Our answer is that the concept of spectator, whichseems to play so important a role in certain minds, isone of the grossest imaginable." (Noug6 IgZg)Noug6's writings have not had direct influence overrecent experimentalism. However, such expressions as". . . how we may defend ourselves against music . . .Evidently, the easiest way is to refuse once and for allto have anything to do with 7t . . .- describe the resultsmany experimental works have had on audiences.Robert Rauschenberg has substantially affected anumber of composers, possibly more than any artistaside from Jackson Pollock and Marcel Duchamp. HisErased de Kooning Drawing is exactly that a de Kooningdrawing, one he obtained directly from the artist hirnself,erased as completely as possible using a specialselection of erasers collected by Rauschenberg. I'he actof decomposing the work of art becomes, in thisinstance, the act of creation of a nearly blank sheet ofpaper, showing only slight depressions in the paperwhere the original drawing once existed. If any act canbe considered plausible art, then Rauschenberg's erasurepresents a work as viably artistic as the originaldrawing.Rauschenberg's Black Painting of I9S2 demonstratesboth the conceptual nature of his work and thecomplexity of shading provided the right lighting.This painting is entirely black. Rauschenberg haifocused on the reflective nature of the paint and viewerssee as much as they wish to in the monochromaticcanvas. Paul Ignace indicates some of the rationalebehind his motivations in creating experimental musicin a letter to the author.I4/hen I was first asked to compose a piece fororchestra I had no idea what they wanted,except an experience of some kind. I wrote andasked for a complete list of the other worksincluded in concerts of the series, and when Idiscovered that the concert preceding the nightof my premiere included Berlioz's Symphonie1.03

lO4 Chapter SixFantastique, I made up my mind. I insisted thatmy work be unrehearsed (there wouldn't havebeen much anyway, as those things go) and thatI would bring score and parts the night of theconcert. Imagine the shock when the conductorand players opened their music to find the workthat they had performed the night before . . . butthey performed it, much to the anger and horrorof the audience and reviewers. They were angry,of course, not at the sounds but at my plagiarism(legal, according to copyright laws) but fewrealized they listened to the sounds in anentirely new way-something very good, verycreative, in my way of thinking. No, I did notreceive money for my endeavor! (The work, bythe way, was titled Symphonie Fantastique No. 2.)(letter to the author)Yehuda Yannay's Houdini's N inth (1970) representsexperimental theater quite representative of thisgerue. Bemard Jacobson characterizes one performancein this excerpt froret Stereo Reoiew:A man cycled onto the stage, put a record of the(Beethoven) Choral Symphony finale on a phonograptuand proceeded to mix some kind ofculinary concoction onto the surface of theactual disc, with bizarre effects on the sound.This was interwoven with an episode involvinga double-bass player in a sort of straitjacket, anddominating the proceedings was a projection ofan incredibly stupid poem published inDwight'slournal of Music, Boston, on December 17, 1870.It was in honor of Beethoven's centenary, andtook a very encouraging view of his affliction ofdeafness: "A price how small," it cheerilyinformed him, "for privilege how great, ,/ Whenthy locked sense groped upward and there /The shining ladder reaching through the air."$acobson 1970)Encouraged by the words of social philosophersMarshall Mcluhan and R. Buckminster Fuller, and hisown studies with Eastern philosopher Suzuki, JohnCage developed a personal philosophy expressed inhis sweeping statement, tHis works encompass most of the experime--tdl-conceptsof the past sixty years: electronic, improvisatory,indeterminate, exploratory, and experimental (Bom1974; Cage 1969, 1973; Kostelanetz 1968, 1970). FromCage's work in the 1930s, when he originated the preparedpiano, to his extension of multimedia happenings,he remained the remarkable enigma (Kostelanetz1967,1980). Cage's ideas and works €unuse, startle,antagonize, and somehow also encourage the worldsof music, dance, and art. If change be the mark ofgreatness, then ]ohn Cage has surely reached this pinnacle.Nothing in music will surely be the same afterhim (Cage 1957,1982; Duckworth 1995).Aside from Cage, no other composer has achievedthe shock value of, and relevance to, experimentalism,except perhaps La Monte Young. In particular, hisComposition 1960 #3, the duration of which isannounced and the audience told to do whatever theywish for the remainder of the compositiory and Composition1960 #6, where the performers stare and reactexactly as if they were the audiencg represent excellentexamples of experimental music.Critics of these and other experimentalists addressthemselves to the pointless philosophies implied(Byron 1975).To these, I. A. MacKenzie has replied:Art is imitation, repetitiory memory or rejectionof life. Nothing is created by mary just recreated:a storeroom to collect the bits and pieces of thewho"le he feels worthy of saving, to be brought tolife again whenever the need occurs, but neveras good as the original. Art exists only as a refugeagainst new experience, un-recreated expe'rience with reality: second-hand living. Theterms "musician," "painteg" "wtiteq" merelybreak these limitations down further for easierconstruction, assimilation, and comfort. I amnone of these. I am not an artist. I do not imitate,or need of developing a memory with art, for athousand million possibilities of the present confrontme, and I don't want that number diminishedby one. I am a mapmaker, a suggester ofpossible routes for those interested in experienceswith what has already been createdeverything.I am similar to the "artist" in that Ido not create, dissimilar with him in that I do notpretend to. Untouched by style, convenience, ortradition, the elements I observe (not manipulate)I discovered, but only for myself and mydiscovery has style, convenience just as yours. Ido nothing that anyone else could not do easilyand do not pretend to. I only give directionswhen someone wishes them and would beh"ppy to stop anytime . . . Everything exists:why should I mechanically alter one thing intoanother, one thought into another? All exists, it ismuch more to find the original. (Cope1970,p.2)New experiments are necessary, important, andcontribute to the arts. Cage speaks of this in A Ywfrom Monday; " Art's in process of coming into its owrulife." and "We used to have the artist up on a pedestalNow he's no more extraordinary than we are." (Cage1967 , p.6) Tristan Tzara adds: "Art is not the most precious manifestation of life. Art has not the celestial aruiuniversal value that people like to attribute to it. Life iefar more interesting." (Motherwell195L, p.2a$ These

Experimentalism L05rriews extend our definitions of music to include dangermusic, concepfualism, biomusic, and soundscapes(Byron L975; Palmer 1981; Partch \973; Prfvost L995;Schafer 1974).DnNcen MusrcThe history of danger music includes Paul Noug6'sMusic Is Dangerous (Noug6 1973). As Noug6 points out,while we may use music for relaxatiory forgetting, orpleasure it . . . "probably entails serious consequences"(Noug6 1973). This book describes many accounts ofunfortunate encounters with the dangers of music:Sometimes we find peculiar stories in a newspaper.A few weeks ago, a young American wenthome after coming out of a performance of Thnnhauser,and killed himself; not without havingfirst written a note in which he explained thatwhere Thnnhauser had weakened, he, yes he,would set a better example of courage and grandeur.(Noug61973)More recent danger music involves more directconflict with performers or spectators (Johnson 1980).For example, the score to Nam June Paik's DangerMusic for Dick Higgins reads: "Creep into the Vagina ofa Living Whale" (Cage 1969). Figure 6.1 shows Paikduring a1962 Fluxus performance.The visual arts have had direct influence on dangermusic. The artist Ayo for example, has created a numberof finger boxes each containing an unknown object.Viewers experience the art by placing their fingers intothese small creations, some of which contain felt, fur,and similar benign objects. Some pf the boxes, however,contain razor blades, broken glass, and pocketknives.Though blood has spilled during danger musicperformances, violence seldom occurs as a direct consequenceof composer intention (Higgins L966). Accidentsoften are welcomed, however. Such was the casewith two happenings tn 1962. The first involved asomewhat bloodied Robert Whitman at BenningtonCollege. The second saw a woman spectator/performerat an Al Hansen happening fall from a windowdown a number of stories and eventually through aglass roof.Robert Ashley's Wolfman (L964) exemplifies dangermusic. This work includes prerecorded tape with avoice screaming througha microphone creatingfeedback tumed to extremelyloud levels, easilyreaching decibelcounts above dangerpoints. The recording ofthis work, with instructions"to be played at thehighest possible volumelevel" constifutes directdanger to those listeningin a small room.Phil Comer's adaptationof his own preludeFigurefrom 4 Sulfs creates interestingdanger6.2. Robertuhley.music:I threw out a rifle and then slowly picked it upand pointed it at the audience (no one bolted forthe doors, by the way) . . . counterpointed by awom€rn who slowly picked up a bouquet ofroses-there was a countdown . . . at the end ofwhich she threw the flowers into the audience, allover, with great love and joy, while I silently letfall the rifle and slunk offstage. Yet this wasapparently not the right message for some, as Iwas accosted afterwards by one of the Up AgainstThe Wall Motherfucker crowd, and yelled at:"Next time a real rifle!" (letter to the author)Comer's One antipersonnel-type CBU bomb will bethrown into the audience represents another example ofdanger music. Comer speaks of this work:Figure 6.1. Nam June Paik during a 1962 F/uxus performance.I tried to push the concert situation to a pointwhere those present would have to feel theimmediacy of the situation-their situatiorysince this had to be something in which thosepresent shared a complicity. Failure! Could Ihave been that naive? For the audience reactionis not predictable. I discovered that right thenand there. For that reason the thing was noteven ever done. The defenses against identify-

L05 Chapter Sixing with the victims, with putting ourselves intheir places, is too strong. Guilt is covered up bya selfish fear. A self-serving, even dishonest one,I might add. I felt it then and still do. The ideathat that would really be acted on, that a real terroristact would be announced so and carriedout in this way seems to me incredible. Finallythough, the "performance" would have been toannounce the cancellation of the performance.(letter to the author)Daniel Lentz comments in the Coda of his SkeletonsDon't Say Peek:I too am sad. In fact, I am very sad. Men are stillfighting wars and playing music. Some areguerrilla wars, and some are guerrilla compositions.But they are, nevertheless, war and music.They are fought with weaPons and instruments.There is so little difference. One type is used forthe defense of an army or nation; the other, forthe defense of a vestigial culture. Do we needthe protection of generals and composers? Dowe need their incredibly scary anti-ballistic-missilesystems and slmthesizers? Shouldn't weattempt their destructiorL before they destroyus? From whom are they protecting us? Fromthe Russians? The Princetonians? What, in thelate-middle twentieth century does weaponryhave to do with music? Can we eliminate onewithout first eliminating the other? Won't themetaphor be too powerful until it is taken away?Has there ever been an instrument built whichwasn't used? Couldn't the players you saw inaction tonight just as well have been aggressivesoldiers of war? Did you watch closely their gestures?Is there a real difference between themand the Special Forces? Are they not identicalmentalities? They are out to kill us and you sitthere waiting. Are you all ctazy? Can't you see,nor hear? But wait . . . don't blame the players.We are only cogs in the great hierarchy. We followdirections. The artistic generals tell us whatto do and when to do it and the manner inwhich it is to be done' They are not even specific.Aren't they kind, as they destroy us? Weare like you: just poor citizens caught up in theimmense musical-industrial complex. Sure, ifyou threaten us or our friends, we will play foryou. We have no recourse but to protect our"raison d'etre." (Budd 1969)Prior to this final announcement, all the instrumentshave been taken from the performers, Placed infront of the piano, and saluted. The act of not playmg,the drama of conJronting the audience, contradicts traditionalperformance concepts.While at the University of Califomia, Santa Barbara,lentz formed the conceptual music CaliforniaTime Machine ensemble. The CTM performed extet'sively on the West Coast and toured Europe n L9@andt970.In1973 Lentz founded and directed the SanAndreas Fault ensemble of eight singers and players(with Lentz conducting). Its repertoire consisted ofpieces specially composed for it by Budd, Eister, Stock'Strange, Lentz, and others. 1n1982 Lentz founded theDaniel Lentz Group. His works include After Imagx1980, Apologetica: I Cantori (1998), and Missa Umbrann(1ee1).In Lentz's Anti Bass Music (see Figure 6.3) a nu*ber of notations relate the concert situation to the batrtlefield. This work, supplied with four optionilendings that may be performed in multiples, includera rcading of a list of American comPosers not killed iaVietnam, and the use of twenty-five to one hundrdlaughing machines (Lentz \972;MacLow 1970).CoNcsrruALlsMMinimal and concept music are so closely relatedseparation becomes difficult fohnson 1980;1970; Nyman 1974).Works such as Robert Raus&tberg's White Paintiregs (canvases covered as evenlypossible with white paint) parallel conceptualsuch as John Cage's classic 4'33". This Iatterreceived its first performance in August 1952'Woodstock, New York by pianist David Tudor.--'t,O C.l. Haqhl'lc G&tr*; ryl'v.l ud*l1r. ( hlt ) ,3'&?5rlrcu@(blt)Figure 6.3. From Daniel LenE'sAnti Bass Music, page 1 1.

Experimentalism 107a stopwatclr, Tudor covered the piano keyboard at thebeginning of each movement, playrng nothing, buttiming the movements marked by Cage in the otherwiseblank score (movements of one minute, forty seconds;two minutes, twenty-three seconds; and thirtyseconds respectively). Unfortunately, the brilliance ofTudor's dramatic performance had the adverse effectof limiting this work to piano (the score reads "for anyinstrument or combination of instruments"). Virtuallyany sound or combination of sounds with a total durationof four minutes and thirty-three seconds will successfullyrcalize the score, from thinking-in-a-bathtubto silence by a symphony orchestra. Cage has clarifiedthe concept behind such works:. where it is realized that sounds occurwhether intended or not, one tums in the directionof those he does not intend. The turning ispsychological and seems at first to be a givingup of everything that belongs to humanity-fora musician, the giving up of music. This psychologicalturning leads to the world of nature,where, gradually or suddenly, one sees thathumanity and nature, not separate, arq in thisworld together; that nothing was lost wheneverything was given away. In fact, everythingis gained. (Cage 1961, p.8)Rauschenberg's White Paintings link further with4'33' tn that the White Paintings involve the shadowsof spectators, variance of lights, reflections, and so onwhich tum the seeminglyblank canvas into a counterpointof visual activity. In 4'33", the coughs, laughter,and other audible movements of the audience as wellas extraneous sounds become, in fact, the work. Lrboth cases the creator has produced a concepfual workof art (Gaburo 1975; Johnson1974; Knowles 1976).La Monte Young's concept music includes Composition1960 #Z which contains onlv the notes B and F#with the instructions: to be held for a "long time."Composition 1960 #10 requests that the performer"draw a straight line and follow it." In 1960, at Berkeley,Young presented a composition that consisted oftuming loose a jar full of butterflies on an unsuspectingaudience. Other compositions of 1960 include hisfamous line piece:My Composition 1960 No. 9 consists of a straightline drawn on a piece of paper. It is to be performedand comes with no instructions. Thenight I met Jackson Maclow we went down tomy apartment and he read some of his poemsfor us. Later when he was going home, he saidhe'd write out directions to get to his place sowe could come and visit him sometime. He happenedto pick up "Composition No. 9" and said,"Can I write it here?" I said "No, wait, that's apiece. Don't write on that." He sai4 "Whadayamean a piece? That's just a line." (Young andZazeela L969)Karlheinz Stockhausen's Mikrophonie L (1964) usesonly one sound source, a large tam-tam upon whichperformers manipulate the various verbal instructionsof the score, "scraping, trumpeting" and so on.Eric Andersen's Opus 48 ("Which tums anonymouswhen the instruction is carried out") is sentthrough the mail on a piece of cardboard that states intotal: "Place the chosen tautology." Tom Johnsory inhis book Imaginary Music, includes a number ofunplayable concept pieces (Johnson 1974).His CelestialMusicfor ImaginaryTrumpets, shown in Figure 6.4,cannotbe performed but only conceptualized or imagined.Robert Moran's Compositionfor Piano with Pianiststates: "A pianist comes onto the stage and goesdirectly to the concert grand piano. He climbs into thepiano, and sits on the strings. The piano plays him"(Moran 1973,p. M).Accidents (196nby Larry Austin contains instructionsfor the pianist to perform the music without creatingactual sounds. The required speed of performancemakes accidents unavoidable. As if repenting,performers must retum to each gesture in whichan accident occurred (i.e., a sound made) and repeat ituntil error-free (silence).The German-originated but often New York-basedmovement Fluxus (which included Paik, Young DickHiggins, Eric Andersen, Thomas Schmidt, JacksonMaclow, and George Brecht) led the conceptual artlmusic movement for a number of years, finallybecoming a publisher of art objects. E*pty objectsprovided the objectives in the experiments of thesecomposers/ poets/ and artists. Often their works do notcontain hints of intended action or what materials touse (Osterreich 1977; Zimmerman 1976). Figure 6.5shows George Maciunas's view of the Fluxus artmovement. The references to "Spikes (sic) Jones" andDuchamp suggest the levity that many members ofthe group felt about their projects. Figures 6.6 and 6.7provide photo documentation of some of the membersof Fluxus. Other individuals involved (but not shownhere) included Jonas Mekas, Bob Watts, Ben Pattersoryand Joe Jones.Text sound music is based on the textljud kompositioneroI two Swedish composers, Lars4unnar Bodinand Bengt-Emil Johnson in 1966. Termed soundpoetry, speech music, and even lexical music, its originsextend back to the Futurists (in Italy) just after thetum of the century. Works in this genre expand toinclude reading and speaking as music by using ono-

108 Chapter SixFigure 6.4.From TomJohnson'sCelestial Musicfor lmaginaryTrumpets. @Copyright 974by TomJohnson. Allrights reserved.Used by permission.FromlmaginaryMusrc by TomJohnson, TwoEighteen Press,NY.a.4w :F :-=== -=:=ARTTo iustify anist's profe$ional, parasitic and elite statusin sciety.he mu$ demonslrateanist's indispensbility and exclusivene$,he must demonstrstethe dependability of audience upon him,he mu$ demonstratethal no one but the artist 6n do an.Theretore, art must appear to be complex, p.etentious,profgund, srious, intellectual, inspired, skillfull, signifi-€nt, theatri€|, it must appear to be valoable as commodity$ as tg provide the artiil with an ancore'To rai* its value (artislt income and patrons profitl.artis made to appear rare, limited in quantity and thereforeobtainable and accessible only to the social elite andinstitutions.FLUXUS ART.AMUSEMENTTo establish anist! nonprofessional status ih society,he must demonstrateartistt dispensbility and inclusiveness,he must demonstratethe elfsufficiencv ol the audience,ne must demonstratethat anything can be art and anyone can do itTherefore, art-amusement must be simple, amusang. unpretentious,concerned with insigniticances, require noskill o{ countless rehearsls, have no commodity or insta_tutional value.The value ol an-amuement must be lowered by markingit unlimited, massproduced, obtainable by all andwenrually produced by all.Fluxus arl-amusement is the rear{uard without any pre_tention or urge to participate in the compelition of ,,one'upmanship" with the avant{arde. lt strives for themonostructural and nontheatrica! qualities of simplenatural ewnt, a game or a gag. lt is the lusion of SpikesJones, Vaudeville, gag, children's games and Ouchamp-George Maciunasfrom:Happening & FluxusMaterials put together by H. SohmKoinischer Kunstverein 1 970:::=Figure 6.5. Fluxus by Ceorge Maciunas from Happening and Fluxus. Materials assembledby H. Sohm, Kolnischer Kunstverein, 1970.=---=:::Figure 6.6. Mieko Shiomi andAlison Knowles during a performanceof Disappearing Music forFace (smile-no smile) at the WashingtonSquare Callery on October30,1964.,-a-tFtg=:Figure 5.7. Fluxus members (left toright): Emmett Williams, Robert Filliou,Ceorge Brecht, Eric Andersen, ThomasSchmit, Robin Page, and Ben Vautier atthe exhibition of Happening and Fluxusat the Kolnischer Kunswerein. Photo byAd Petersen.