{"id":771,"date":"2014-11-11T23:41:43","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T04:41:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/szswp\/?p=771"},"modified":"2014-12-09T19:29:24","modified_gmt":"2014-12-10T00:29:24","slug":"john-cage-child-tree-1975","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/john-cage-child-tree-1975\/","title":{"rendered":"John Cage, Child of Tree (1975)"},"content":{"rendered":"John Cage,\u00a0Child of Tree<\/i><\/b>\u00a0(1975)<\/span>
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 provided are written out in rough-draft-form in Cage’s chicken scratch, with words, sentences and paragraphs crossed out and scribbled over. The difficulty of reading the words and the ambiguity of what is and what is not crossed out adds an element of chance to the construction. Second, by the means of composing the structure: prior to the performance, the performer throws coins and interprets the results (heads or tails) by the oracle of the I Ching (the Chinese Book of Changes). These chance operations determine how many sections the prescribed 8 minutes is to be divided, the lengths of those sections and which instruments are to be used in which sections. And thirdly, aleatory is realized in the performance, which is simply an improvisation. The performer is instructed to “clarify the time structure by means of the instruments,” but even though the performance is completely designed by the performer, an element of chance still exists “because the improvisation can’t be based on taste and memory since one doesn’t know the instruments” (John Cage in an interview, 1982).<\/span>
-Samuel Solomon<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 provided are written out in […]<\/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-cr","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":769,"url":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/john-cage-composed-improvisation-snare-drum-1987\/","url_meta":{"origin":771,"position":0},"title":"John Cage, composed Improvisation for snare drum (1987)","author":"Samuel Z Solomon","date":"November 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":771,"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":771,"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":612,"url":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/yesaroun-duo-heavyupheavydown\/","url_meta":{"origin":771,"position":3},"title":"Yesaroun’ Duo – HeavyUp\/HeavyDown","author":"Samuel Z Solomon","date":"November 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":" Yesaroun' Duo\u00a0-\u00a0HeavyUp\/HeavyDownReleased on\u00a0GM Recordings,\u00a02009View the\u00a0complete\u00a0Liner\u00a0Notes.Yesaroun's first release. A two-disc collection featuring the world premiere recordings of works by Jefferson Friedman, CromTech, Tolga Yayalar, Curtis Hughes, Lei Liang, Dominique Schafer, and Robert Hasegawa, plus works by Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recording - Yesaroun' Duo"","block_context":{"text":"Recording - Yesaroun' Duo","link":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/category\/yesaroun\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"HUHD","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/szsolomon.com\/szswp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/HUHD.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":635,"url":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/toru-takemitsu-rain-tree\/","url_meta":{"origin":771,"position":4},"title":"Toru Takemitsu – Rain Tree","author":"Samuel Z Solomon","date":"November 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Rain Treeby Toru TakemitsuJohn Ostrowski, Sam Solomon, Chris ThompsonCarnegie Hall's JapanNY Festival 2011LineC3.com","rel":"","context":"In "Recording - Line C3"","block_context":{"text":"Recording - Line C3","link":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/category\/line-c3\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":781,"url":"http:\/\/szsolomon.com\/iannis-xenakis-psappha-1975\/","url_meta":{"origin":771,"position":5},"title":"Iannis Xenakis, Psappha (1975)","author":"Samuel Z Solomon","date":"November 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Iannis Xenakis,\u00a0Psappha\u00a0(1975)\"Psappha\" is an archaic form of \"Sappho,\" a great Greek poetess from the Island of Lesbos, born in the 600's BC. 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