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Laughter Over Tears: John Cage, Experimental Art Music, and Popular Television

The Society for American Music & The International Association for the Study of Popular Music 2011 Conference. Laughter Over Tears: John Cage, Experimental Art Music, and Popular Television. Andre Mount, PhD University of California at Santa Barbara amount@umail.ucsb.edu March 10, 2011.

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Laughter Over Tears: John Cage, Experimental Art Music, and Popular Television

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  1. The Society for American Music & The International Association for the Study of Popular Music 2011 Conference Laughter Over Tears: John Cage, Experimental Art Music, and Popular Television Andre Mount, PhDUniversity of California at Santa Barbara amount@umail.ucsb.edu March 10, 2011

  2. Garry Moore and John Cage onI’ve Got a Secret, February 24, 1960 http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/2007/04/cage4.mpg(0:57) Perfectly seriously, I consider music the production of sound. And since, in the piece which you will hear I produce sound, I will call it music. John Cage

  3. John Cage performing Water Walk on I’ve Got a Secret, February 24, 1960 http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/2007/04/cage4.mpg(5:26-6:42)

  4. Experience with dance led me [to incorporate theatrical elements]. The reflection that a human being isn’t just ears but also has eyes […]. I found through Oriental philosophy, my work with Suzuki, that what we are doing is living, and that we are not moving toward a goal but are, so to speak, at the goal constantly and changing with it, and that art, if it is going to do anything useful, should open our eyes to this fact. John Cage Quoted in Richard Kostelanetz, Conversing with Cage, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2003), 113.

  5. “testing of art by means of life” John Cage John Cage: An Anthology (New York, N.Y: Da Capo Press, 1991), 23.

  6. Water Music (1952) Water Music comes from 1952, I believe—the same year as the Black Mountain show—and was my immediate reaction to that event. John Cage Richard Kostelanetz, Conversing with Cage, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2003), 113. (Actual premier: May 2, 1952)

  7. Water Music wishes to be a piece of music, but to introduce visual elements in such a way that it can be experienced as theater. […] I simply put into the chart things that would produce not only sounds but that would produce actions that were interesting to see. John Cage Quoted in Richard Kostelanetz, Conversing with Cage, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2003), 113.

  8. Mike Bongiorno and John Cage, Lascia o Raddoppia, January, 1959

  9. Water Music New York City, Spring 1952 Water Walk (Milan, January 1959) (score detail) (score detail)

  10. John Cage squeezing a rubber duck on I’ve Got a Secret, February 24, 1960 http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/2007/04/cage4.mpg(6:52)

  11. Water Music (New York City, Spring 1952) Water Walk (Milan, January 1959) (score detail) (score detail) 13 instruments/objects in 6:40 minutes water warbler, siren whistle, duck whistle, bowl of water, 2 receptacles, radio, deck of cards, stick, 4 objects for preparing a piano 34 instruments/objects in 3:00 minutes stop-watch, 3 tables, bathtub, toy fish, 25¢ piece, grand piano, tape machine, tape, exploding paper bottle, electric hot plate, pressure cooker, ice cubes, drinking glass, pitcher, whistle, rubber duck, vase, dozen roses, watering can, gong, bottle of Campari, electric mixer, iron pipe, 5 radios, cymbal, soda syphon, quail call, goose whistle

  12. John Cage destroying a radio on I’ve Got a Secret, February 24, 1960 http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/2007/04/cage4.mpg(6:52)

  13. Television shall become the instrument for the highest form of artistic expression ever attained to by man since the 16th century. Mildred Steffens, 1945 Mildred Steffens, “The Case for Visualized Music in Television,” Telescreen (Spring 1945): 9.Quoted in Murray Forman, “‘One Night on TV Is Worth Weeks at the Paramount’: Musicians and Opportunity in Early Television, 1948-55,” Popular Music 21, no. 3 (October 2002): 254.

  14. We must expose all of our people to the thrilling rewards that come from an understanding of fine music, ballet, the literary classics, science, art, everything. […] To make us all into intellectuals—there is the challenge of television. Sylvester “Pat” Weaver, 1956 Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr., “Enlightenment Through Exposure is NBC Technique,” Musical America (February 15, 1956): 25. Quoted in Brian Geoffrey Rose, Television and the Performing Arts: A Handbook and Reference Guide to American Cultural Programming (New York: Greenwood Press, 1986), 2-3.

  15. Unique qualities of television as an art form: “immediacy, spontaneity, and actuality” Rudy Bretz, 1950 Rudy Bretz, “TV as an Art Form,” Hollywood Quarterly 5, no. 2 (Winter 1950): 153-163.

  16. Andre Mount University of California at Santa Barbara amount@umail.ucsb.edu

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