Bad Ideas For Avant-Garde Composition - Page 2

Satchmo8101 · 07-20-2004, 02:42 AM

I am sorry I was wrong about it being 600 years. It's going to be even longer, at 639 years. With 636 years left to go. Now keep in mind this piece was only written by Bach to last 20 minutes.

The first actual notes took place back in Feb. 2003.

You can read all the gory details on this undertaking.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Musi....ap/index.html

As of July 5th they have made it up to 5 notes.

As crazy as all this sounds it gets stranger. 10,000 people have made their way there last year alone to hear the first three notes being played over 6 months.

Satchmo8101 · 07-20-2004, 02:53 AM

Here is a question that just came to me. What happens if this special organ they are using breaks down, say in year 300? Are they going to start all over again?

blah · 07-20-2004, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drsquid

... maybe there's no such thing as a bad idea ... maybe it's actually the REALIZATION of an idea that is either good/bad, interesting/boring etc...

i couldnt agree more. i think what i meant by a "bad idea" was an idea that seems nearly impossible to pull off well.

Roivas · 07-20-2004, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drsquid

... maybe there's no such thing as a bad idea ... maybe it's actually the REALIZATION of an idea that is either good/bad, interesting/boring etc...

For example, if you take the idea for New Amplified Flatulation and use it as the basis for something satirical then you are probably on the right track... If, however, you use it as the basis for a tragic opera about genocide then you either will probably want to reconsider your "intstrumentation" or process it so much that it is no longer recognizable as flatulation... (unless, of course, your intent is to make a satire about genocide ... in which case yada yada yada...)

-- drsquid

Squidquote follows:
In this pissoir with its yellow tiles my eyes have been opened for the first time today

Maybe it's already been done!

http://www.notype.com/drones/cat.e/oral_03.html

Maybe not amplified, but miked and processed.

freejazzlove · 07-20-2004, 05:39 PM

depending on how you slowed down the Bach piece it would produce subaudio tones which in turn would cause a bunch of people to flatulate (and more) if played though a speaker cone the size of a large brick wall.

Zlatko Kreso · 07-20-2004, 06:18 PM

Shortest Bach piece, speed it up to an inaudible click.

freejazzlove · 07-21-2004, 07:53 AM

ah la : Robert Fripp - First Inaugural Address to I.A.C.E. Sherborne House

Cage Fanatic · 08-07-2004, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satchmo8101

Taking 600 years to play one of Bach's organ compositions. So far the first 1.5 years of which only included silence as air is let into the organ pipes.

I believe they finally started playing the first note. I forget how long that is supposed to take.

If you haven't guessed a certain person by the name of Cage was behind this idea.

"...if it's still boring after 128 years, try it for 256 years..."

Actually, the TT on this baby will be 639 years, but I don't know who's gonna release the unedited boxed set!

Anyway, if the the same performance finished this year, no one would have noticed when it started 'coz they'd all have been running about scabby with Black Death!

That said, I don't think there are any bad ideas for avant-garde composition, merely bad composers and performers to realize ideas. Some of the worst insults to my ears have come from a simple string quartet!

Now, there are bad ideas because the methods might be considered immoral. John Duncan included a necrophiliac element to one of his performances--with a real human cadaver!
Remember Monty Python's sketch "Arthur Ewing and his Musical Mice"?

Quote:

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen. I have in this box twenty-three white mice. Mice which have been painstakingly trained over the past few years, to squeak at a selected pitch. (he raises a mouse by its tail) This is E sharp... and this one is G. You get the general idea. Noe these mice are so arranged upon this rack, that when played in the correct order they will squeak 'The Bells of St Mary's'. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you on the mouse organ 'The Bells of St Mary's'. Thank you.
He produces two mallets. He starts striking the mice while singing quietly 'The Bells of St Mary's'. Each downward stroke of the mallet brings a terribly squashing sound and the expiring squeak. It is quite clear that he is slaughtering the mice. The musical effect is poor. After the first few notes people are shouting 'Stop it, stop him someone, Oh my God'. He cheerfully takes a bow. He is hauled off by the floor manager.

Equinox · 08-07-2004, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cage Fanatic

Now, there are bad ideas because the methods might be considered immoral. John Duncan included a necrophiliac element to one of his performances--with a real human cadaver!

ouch. I heard about this stint and was grossed out. I do have his "Tap Internal" album and do enjoy it though...

Cage Fanatic · 08-08-2004, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Shortest Bach piece, speed it up to an inaudible click.

As a corollary to Cage's 4'33," Gyorgi Ligeti composed the shortest piece ever, "0:00."