Re: (Uh,) What is music?

[JeffSchan <JeffSchan...>]

In a message dated 7/5/2001 12:07:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Seth Austen  
writes:

> I remember reading that Cage could walk down the streets of NY City, where
> he lived, and hear music in the jackhammers, police sirens and subway
> rumbles. Personally, I just get sensory overloaded by that type of stuff,
> and so I live in the country (This isn't meant as a dissing of NYC, I'm
originally from there).

My wife, Bernadette Speach, was very close to Cage.  He told her that he came 
to the realization that all sound was music in a concert in New York city 
where the rumbling of the subway could be heard during a performance.  Rather 
than considering it a distraction, which most of us do in the same 
circumstance, he expanded his thinking to realize that it was, in fact, part 
of the piece.  Perhaps list member Isabelle Ganz, who was also very close to 
Cage, will give us some more insight into Cage's aesthetic.

Continuing on the New York City thread, Morton Feldman, Cage's good friend 
and colleage (and my teacher) had a very different reaction to New York's 
sensory overload.  After going to work, he came home and wrote extremely 
quiet music to create a refuge from the noise.  Different strokes for 
different folks.

Jeffrey Schanzer