I’m happy to be returning to posting here at Sequenza21. It has been a while. Recently, a quote from David Byrne was brought to my attention by Joe Benzola in a Facebook post. (The original Byrne post may be found here.) Although the quote is from 2008, it’s new to me; besides, Byrne was responding to “modern music” written in 1957 as if it was new, so I feel okay with my discussion here. Essentially, Byrne’s comments amount to “why don’t these composers act normal?” I’ve heard comments like this from my undergraduates, usually non-music majors in my electronic music class.
Read moreLast year, many of us saw a posting regarding the VIM:Tribeca concert series. The organizers, Judd Greenstein and Kimball Gallagher, wanted to put on concert series of mostly new works; the composers were responsible for providing performers. The concerts were to be put on in the Gallerie Icosahedron (I’m deliberately not linking to them, for reasons that will be apparent soon!). The first indication of trouble to us should have been the delays, imposed by the gallery, regarding scheduling and, we found out later, the renting of a piano. The first public sign of trouble was the sudden announcement that
Read moreOkay, the person with the secret was John Cage. And, the title refers to the game show on CBS, broadcast in 1960. Yes, there was once a time when a figure like John Cage appeared on TV, on CBS, and performed one of his works. Outside of South Park and the Simpsons, when have you seen major composers on TV.?(Glass appears, as an animated character [not his voice] in South Park, and is mentioned a few times on the Simpsons.) Anyway, back to Cage: you can see it here. Enjoy!
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