Man! I'd hate to have to sit through this concert!

I hope they don't publish an article every time they sound a note. I'd hate to be reminded of this dumb idea every couple of years for the rest of my life.

 

John Cage strikes again. And he didn't even live to see it. Why is anyone bothering to actually execute this? Cute on paper, but you're not supposed to really do it... not like anyone's going to truly appreciate the melody* when it's dragged out over so long.

*assuming there is one

 

AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA omg... what a loser.... that guy probably thinks he's so cool too... coming up with this r****ded idea.. lol i bet he was a 40 year old virgin..

 

if they play the wrong note, do they have to start over???

 

It's Johnny Cage's new fatality...he plays a musical piece for so long, you kill yourself out of boredom...

 

If that dude's a virgin, he's probably going to stay that way.

 

I think it's kind of cool. Weights placed on the organ hold the keys for years (I just looked that up - was wondering how they were going to do it). It'd be cool to live in that town - you'd soon grow so accustomed to the sound of the organ and whatever particular chord it was playing that it would just fade into the background like traffic noises or leaves rustling. Imagine if you lived 20 years in the same town, then all of the sudden the chord changed - it would seem, in some sense, like everything changed.

It brings up a lot of interesting questions, and has a ton of implications. And that's what it's supposed to do.

Cage was someone who was serious about being humorous, and vice versa. This isn't supposed to be taken completely seriously, nor is it meant to be dismissed out of hand. It's supposed to make you question things, or wonder, or experience an idea and its execution in a different way.

My dad, as a college student, prepared John Cage's piano for a recital. By 'prepared' I mean he went out and picked up the parts needed; things like washers and bolts, paperclips, etc.,. The funny thing was the specificity - the exact diameter/metal/brand of the washers and bolts, precise measurements as to where the items where supposed to be placed inside the piano, and so forth. Because of this precision though, he could play the same ramshackle noises in the same sequence at each recital. It's funny, but also interesting.

Cage definitely has some works that could be considered somewhat normal and listenable, many of which are very good, but he wasn't about that. He was about making massive jokes that were meant to be seriously considered while being laughed at. He was pulling a prank on you but, at the same time, he was asking you to question the limits of your experience.

 

I was wondering about the organ to, if they would play other pieces in between the notes of the Cage piece -- you know, like Sundays for church and whatnot. If they did play other stuff, it would invalidate the Cage piece. But, I see now they don't. Which means that there's an organ and a church that can't play any other music for the next half millenium plus, just so they could do this thing. Of course, not many people go to church in Europe anyway.

I can see what you mean about the interesting elements of this idea. But, it's better on paper. In real life, it's too big an investment and too tedious to listen to to be worth while.

 

I wonder if anyone will answer "John Cage" in Manny's next "What's in your CD Player [again]??" thread.

 

i've heard of this before in a class actually at texas state....what a freakin' moron. i wouldn't even qualify it as a concert or piece of music. playing a couple of notes every year doesn't qualify as music, i could do that. walk into a church play a couple of notes on the organ, then leave, comeback a year later and do the same thing over and over. does that make it a concert or a piece of music? hell no. what an idiot.