{"id":769,"date":"2014-11-11T23:41:15","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T04:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/szswp\/?p=769"},"modified":"2014-11-11T23:41:15","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T04:41:15","slug":"john-cage-composed-improvisation-snare-drum-1987","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/john-cage-composed-improvisation-snare-drum-1987\/","title":{"rendered":"John Cage, composed Improvisation for snare drum (1987)"},"content":{"rendered":"John Cage,\u00a0composed Improvisation for snare drum<\/i><\/b>\u00a0(1987)<\/span>
This work is one of Cage’s many “composed improvisations,” compositions that are simply written instructions for how to create a piece of music using chance procedures. Cage turned to chance procedures in his music making in the early 1950’s as a way of further deepening his union of musical composition and Asian thought, specifically that of Zen Buddhism. Cage wrote in a letter to Pierre Boulez in 1951, “I freed myself from what I had thought to be freedom, and which actually was only the accretion of habits and tastes.” The usage and manifestation of chance in Cage’s compositions, performances, recordings, lectures, and writings developed throughout his career, first appearing behind the scenes in the composition process and later appearing on many levels throughout the composing (by Cage), the preparation (by the performer), and in the performance itself.<\/span>

His composed improvisations are hardly works by Cage at all, but rather venues for the performer to explore his or her own “divine unconscious.” The score provided by Cage is simply two pages of text – rules with which to design a structure for the improvisation using chance procedures – in this case, “In Memorium Marcel Duchamp,” Cage requests the performer write all possible answers to a question on small pieces of paper and then pick them out of a hat. The elements of structure are careful determined – whether snares are on or off, length and starting point of each section, how many parts are in each section, the beaters used for each part, and the number of articulations (1-64) in each part are all pulled from a hat prior to the performance. From there, aleatory is further realized in the improvisation as the performer may or may not know what he or she will play and in some cases may or may not even know how to make music with the chosen beaters.\u00a0<\/span>

-Samuel Solomon<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Cage,\u00a0composed Improvisation for snare drum\u00a0(1987)This work is one of Cage’s many “composed improvisations,” compositions that are simply written instructions for how to create a piece of music using chance procedures. Cage turned to chance procedures in his music making in the early 1950’s as a way of further deepening his union of musical composition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5qnlH-cp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":771,"url":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/john-cage-child-tree-1975\/","url_meta":{"origin":769,"position":0},"title":"John Cage, Child of Tree (1975)","author":"Samuel Z Solomon","date":"November 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"John Cage,\u00a0Child of Tree\u00a0(1975)Child of Tree is a composed improvisation for plant materials. Cage specifies amplified cactus and pea pod shakers as two of ten \"instruments\" that are to be chosen by the performer. The aleatory is realized on three levels. First by the interpretation of the \"score\": the instructions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Note"","block_context":{"text":"Note","link":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/category\/note\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":578,"url":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/john-cage-27-10-554-percussionist-1956\/","url_meta":{"origin":769,"position":1},"title":"John Cage – 27′ 10.554″ for a percussionist (1956)","author":"Samuel Z Solomon","date":"November 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"John Cage - 27' 10.554\" for a percussionist (1956)For multipercussion and electronicsLive performance, Juilliard School, April 2003Video is in three parts. Listen one at a time, or all at the same time! John Cage \u2013\u00a027' 10.554\" for a percussionist\u00a0(1956)27' 10.554\" for a percussionist\u00a0is the last piece of a collection of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recording - Solo"","block_context":{"text":"Recording - Solo","link":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/category\/solo\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":775,"url":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/morton-feldman-king-denmark-1964\/","url_meta":{"origin":769,"position":2},"title":"Morton Feldman, King of Denmark (1964)","author":"Samuel Z Solomon","date":"November 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Morton Feldman,\u00a0King of Denmark\u00a0(1964)King of Denmark is a very short work for Feldman, lasting only six minutes. This study in instrumental color is notated graphically where a three part grid, indicating high, medium and low pitches, is peppered with numbers, letters and symbols representing instruments and articulations. Instrument choice is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Note"","block_context":{"text":"Note","link":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/category\/note\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":764,"url":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/ryan-streber-dosillos-y-humeros-2005\/","url_meta":{"origin":769,"position":3},"title":"Ryan Streber – Dosillos y Humeros (2005)","author":"Samuel Z Solomon","date":"November 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Ryan Streber -\u00a0Dosillos y Humeros\u00a0(2005)Dosillos y Humeros\u00a0for solo percussion was composed for Sam Solomon in the late summer and fall of 2005. The title, which translates as\"duplets and chimneys\", also forms an anagram (without the \"y\") of the words \"Helios\" and \"drum solos\". The name \"Helios\" in this context does\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Note"","block_context":{"text":"Note","link":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/category\/note\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":599,"url":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/pas-masschap-2008-snare-drum-collection\/","url_meta":{"origin":769,"position":4},"title":"The PAS MassChap 2008 Snare Drum Collection","author":"Samuel Z Solomon","date":"November 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The PAS MassChap 2008 Snare Drum CollectionPublished by\u00a0Bachovich Music Publications,\u00a02008The PAS MassChap 2008 Snare Drum Collection\u00a0was compiled in preparation for the Percussive Arts Society Massachusetts Chapter's 2008 Day Of Percussion. It includes FORTY new etudes for snare drum by forty different composers. Eleven works are by commissioned authors; the remaining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book"","block_context":{"text":"Book","link":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/category\/book\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"PASsnare","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/szsolomon.com\/szswp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/PASsnare.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":570,"url":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/write-percussion\/","url_meta":{"origin":769,"position":5},"title":"How To Write For Percussion","author":"Samuel Z Solomon","date":"November 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"How To Write For Percussion Published by the author, 2004 Second edition, Oxford University Press, 2016 PURCHASE\u00a0from\u00a0OUP\u00a0or\u00a0Amazon. How To Write For Percussion\u00a0is lauded\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book"","block_context":{"text":"Book","link":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/category\/book\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/szsolomon.com\/szswp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/cover2ndEd-210x300.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":770,"href":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions\/770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}