Mclaren on Cage

How does he do it? Somehow Brian Mclaren manages
to goad me into defending John Cage, a composer who
has never been in my top 20, and who, I agree with Brian, is
probably overrated. Nonetheless, with so many legitimate
ways to criticize Cage, Mclaren manages to find some bafflingly
inane ones instead.

Mclaren challenges Cage's status as an experimental
composer as follows:

>Exactly what is an experimental composer?
>Which hypothesis does the experimental composer
>conduct an experiment to test? What is the
>experimental control? What kind of statistical
>methods does the experimental composer use
>to analyze hi/r results--linear regression, chi
>square, least squares, ANOVA? What and
>where is the mathematical model upon which the
>experimental composer's hypothesis is based?
>Which laws of nature does the experimental
>composer seek to investigate...? .

Most of these questions are irrelevant because
musical experimentation does not equal scientific
experimentation. The main difference is that the
scientist makes the utmost effort to *disprove* his
hypothesis to determine its veracity. The composer attempts
to *prove* his through the creation of works of great
power and beauty. One sees the absurdity of some of these
questions by asking what mathematical model or experimental
hypothesis Beethoven was investigating through the composition
of the Grosse Fuge. Perhaps he was attempting to compose out
a Schenkerian Urlinie with the clunkiest counterpoint available
with contemporary counterpuntal technology?
Indeed the confusion of artistic and scientific methodologies
is one major reason that many American university music
departments have become somewhat inhospitable for artists.
But I digress as usual.

Cage states his hypothesis plainly enough. Sounds that
we normally filter out as noise can function as music.
This is a logical extension of the ideas of Varese,
namely the liberation of sound. Further, Cage posits that
interesting things can happen when situations are
constructed to push listener and performer outside of a
preprogrammed timetable (score), i.e. Indeterminacy.

A few comments. I don't find this an efficient way to
work personally. I have heard several recordings of Cage
which I find sonically stunning, and which are a direct
result of Cage's method of setting up musical events.
There are a few really powerful "composed" pieces by
Cage such as the Three Dances for Two Prepared Pianos which
demonstrate considerable musical skill in rhythmic, sonic
and temporal organization which clearly demonstrate that
Cage was not a musical charlatan.

While I don't find Cage's hypotheses particularly useful for my
own compositional work, I don't deny their existence as Brian
does.

Brian also compares Cage to Xenakis:

>In fact Xenakis
>succeeded where Caged failed: using a computer,
>Xenakis could toss millions of coins in the time
>it took Cage to toss one, and with a computer
>program Xenakis could direct the ensemble
>statistics of his coin-tosses, whereas Cage
>could never do anything more than generate a
>random noise stream. Because using a computer
>would have required talent and intelligence,
>Cage chose instead to spout a steady stream of
>double-talk.

This is the sort of writing by Brian which irritates
some people. The most cursory glance at Cage's writings
displays his obvious intelligence and musical knowledge.
I quote from a lecture by Milton Babbitt in which he
described his meeting with Cage: "He is a highly intelligent,
completely honest person, with whom I had no basis for
discussion on music." Babbitt is honorable enough to not
gratuitously insult someone whose musical values are orthagonal
to his own.

An observation about computer programming. It does not
require much intelligence to program a computer. Cage's
use of randomness required awareness during every random decision
and therefore it's silly to imply that Cage's use of
randomness is less "efficient" than Xenakis any more than
a watercolor painting is less efficient than a mass-produced
poster. Cage was certainly intelligent enough to program a computer
but it would have defeated the purpose of his goals for using
the technique, i.e. observing all intermediate results in the
compositional and performance process.

When I did a residency at UPIC, I learned that Xenakis is a
terrible programmer. But nobody at UPIC says that his lack
of programming ability represents a lack of talent and intelligence.
In fact many consider him to be an intellectual and musical giant.

The point being, if Brian wishes his criticisms of other composers
to be taken seriously, he should make serious criticism, rather
than frivolous charges and gratuitous insults.

Eric Lyon


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Yeah, I saw that thing on Discovery about the Columbia 757 crash as well.
Sounds like a miscommunication compounded by pilot error. Drag...

The TWA investigation of course was far more difficult because the entire
wreckage is buried on the continental shelf. Bigger drag...


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