John Cage-ian Tao Te Ching Thought of the Day

From Tao Te Ching- Chapter 11

    Thirty spokes join in one hub
    In its emptiness, there is the function of a vehicle
    Mix clay to create a container
    In its emptiness, there is the function of a container
    Cut open doors and windows to create a room
    In its emptiness, there is the function of a room

    Therefore, that which exists is used to create benefit
    That which is empty is used to create functionality

source www.Taoism.net and Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths in 2006

Electric Prepared Mandolin

I bought a cheap mandolin about 10 years ago for $80.  Then about 5 years ago a mic stand fell on it and cracked right under the bridge (thus it wont stay in tune).  I put it in a closet with intent of smashing it at a show one day.  Instead of destroying it, I put a in contact mic pick up, a 1/4" jack, and "prepared it" in the John Cage piano kinda way by putting paper clicks and wood in the strings.  I play above the neck and below the bridge a lot.  I then run it through my pedals to create odd sounds.  It sounds like the sample below, sometimes.

Drumracas- Custom Made Drum Based Noise Maker Shakers

This is a drum device I made with two kiddy toms, some bouncy balls, stray snare strands, some skrilla, and some random drum accessories.  Think of it as a slightly indeterminate percussion object, in the Cage vein of not being able to control aspects of the performance.  A sound sample can be found below.  It is a drumraca and has the ability to create interesting layers for effects to build upon (see ambient sketch below, which will be used in a larger piece), as well as pieces written for an ensemble, and a cocktail drum set (in process . . . ).

-----Origianal Drumracas Sound sample-----

-----An ambient sketch done with Drumracas-----

John Cage Radio Program on WXYC

Flipping through the internet, I ran across this blog post and podcast from Jan. 2009 from WXYC in Chapel Thrill (my old stomping grounds).  It seems to have generated some interesting conversations during the show.

John Cage- The Future of Music – Credo

I BELIEVE THAT THE USE OF NOISE
Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we find it fascinating. The sound of a truck at 50 m.p.h. Static between the stations. Rain. We want to capture and control these sounds, to use them, not as sound effeets, but as musical instruments. Every film studio has a library of »sound effects» recorded on film. With a film phonograph it is now possible to control the amplitude and frequeney of any one of these sounds and to give to it rhythms within or beyond the reach of anyone's imagination. Given four film phonographs, we can compose and perform a quartet for explosive motor, wind, heart beat, and landslide.

TO MAKE MUSIC

Field Recording of Western Kansas

I am going to pull out the John Cage card. . .

I had to attend a work related endevor to a part of Kansas that is less than an hour away from both Colorado and Oklahoma. The drive out there looked like this from the windshield of the car-


I had brought my laptop field recoding rig along in case our hotel in this small (but very nice and friendly) town of Ulysses was near a bell tower (google said something about a catholic church near by).

John Cage Lecture on Nothing

My music history teacher read this lecture to us in the 20th century part of the semester. It still crosses my mind from time to time. Above is the Google reader version of it. That is poetry as I need it.