John Cage test

 This is a part of my article on generative music, check the whole article here

Cage's approach to random music is so inherently generative. He tends to leave room for improvisation, in his composition and performance. One of his famous methods was to use I-Ching

In 1951 he was given a copy of I-ching by his pupil Christian Wulff. Cages interest was caught and this text became the basis of his compositional method for the rest of his life the I Ching or Book of Changes is an ancient Chinese text dating back to around a thousand BC used for divination but which has been a source of inspiration for philosophers artists religion and literature in the east and the west its current sequence is said to have been created by King one king of Jove in the late Shang dynasty. To use the I-Ching the user obtains a random number originally. This number corresponds to a line that is either strong or weak yang or Yin when six have been obtained you have a hexagram. There are 64 different possible hexagrams, which you then look up in the I Ching and read the interpretation for example if we got the hexagram lin the meaning is approached or if we've got the hexagram Fung this would mean abundance further interpretation from these meanings can be drawn to produce divination it's slightly more complex than this but that's a general idea. Cage would ask the I-ching a question and use the hexagram obtained to make the decision firstly he would consult the sound chart to see which note if any should play then a duration chart and dynamic chart would obtain the note required Cage would also use a tempo chart to set the tempo changes for the piece works created This way Kage wanted to free himself from his own preferences and allow indeterminacy into the process. For Cage using, randomness meant imitating nature.

Comments

Popular Posts