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What is meant by structure in music? Does all music have structure? Does all music have form? (With particular reference to John Cage’s pieces). Part 2
In the compositions written between 1930-1940 John Cage used musical form in the traditional way. An example of this might be a 70-minute cycle of 20 miniatures Sonatas and Interludes from 1946-1948. In these twenty pieces composed for a prepared piano, we can see how Cage’s passion for experiments influenced the sound of the grand piano. This cycle is a mine of ideas for sound effects. We can also hear the influential role of the Indian music and philosophy ‘to sober and quiet the mind, thus rendering it susceptible to divine influences’[1] which became the cornerstone in Cage’s attitude towards music. In terms of form, 16 miniatures from the cycle, called Sonatas, have a clear periodic structure – AB or ABA1. It is worth noticing that the term ‘sonata’ has nothing to do with the sonata form. It is rather associated with the etymology of the word that means ‘sound’, ‘clan’. Sonata is a musical form characterised by a clear structure, a very rich rhythm and an original sound derived from the tradition of Eastern music. The cycle of Sonatas also includes four miniatures called Interludes with a freer, almost improvised form.
In the 50’s J. Cage began to shape his compositions based on the idea of indeterminism. Indeterminism is the concept which states that there are no direct dependencies between the cause and the result in the nature. It is related to chance and has an opposite meaning than determinism. It was supposed to make the elements independent of structural inter-relationships, free sound’s course with unforeseen consequences. Cage’s interest in the idea of indeterminism can be explained by the influence of Zen Buddhist philosophy. He believed that abandoning the convention for undetermined music was ‘not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we’re living’[2]. It allowed him to become independent from the individual taste. The random sound material of undetermined compositions had an influence on the form of the composition.
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The result of embodying the aforementioned idea is Music of Changes from 1951. This is a composition for a prepared piano and it is steamed from Cage’s earlier interest in the unconventional sound of the piano. Externally the style of the composition is similar to the punctualistic style of Webern, ‘whose structures are predominantly effected from tone to tone, without superordinate formal conceptions coming to bear’[3]. These analogies, however, only apply to the same sound impression. Webern controls his composition very accurately in every single area. In Music of Changes all the parameters of the sound are not controlled by composer but by the chance. During the process of composing Music of Changes, Cage threw dices and coins. Such random operations indicated the pitch, volume, length and articulation. The chance also influenced the number of tones, length of the piece, and even the formal fragmentation. Cage listed the results of the random actions and thus the composition of a consistent style and richly varied sequences of sound pulses came into being. The form of the piece in the process of composing was unknown and indeterminate. The form was established by the chance.
[1] J.Cage, Silence: Lectures and Writings by John Cage (Hanover, 1961), 158, 226
[2] J.Cage, Silence: Lectures and Writings by John Cage (Hanover, 1961), 12
[3] K. Essl, Aspekte des Seriellen bei Stockhausen (Wien, 1989)
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