GG : Banal Questions and Cages

[Kate Clunies-Ross <goldbergs@TALK21.COM>]

Good afternoon, FMinor

Firstly, about Anne Marble's query concerning our favourite Gouldian
anecdotes; I love the stories of GG singing to cows,  and to the elephants
at Toronto Zoo. Bearing in mind that his singing voice was not exactly
wonderful, (I wonder what the bemused animals must have thought?) it does
show him in a relaxed and whimsical mood, not  being the usual intense and
anxious Gould I tend to imagine.

About the vexed question of Gould and Cage, wow, I have been astonished at
how heated the discussion seems to have become!  I have several times been
tempted to offer an opinion, and now here goes, even though I think I can
imagine a chorus of groans.......in F minor, of course...

Although I love music, I am not a musician and know practically nothing of
Cage's work. Still,  whatever one may think of  4'33", I think  some of the
recent posts may be wrong to discount all meaning.

 It seems to me that possibly it cant really be defined as  "music" which  I
personally think should involve a creative use of   sound  (i.e it should be
an actual artifact, not depend on the random and
 accidental)  but perhaps if you  view the piece as a kind of  'theatre' (as
 someone else has suggested) then it definitely has a purpose  and
 meaning....maybe more so this way. OK, I am biased, because of my love of
 mime  but if you view this piece as a  kind of
 mime than it makes quite a lot of sense, It  makes you consider the meaning
of music, and to become aware of your own
 inner music, as well as the musicality of ambient sounds; (as an aside, I
have a theory about the possible origins of music itself lying within the
activity of our nervous systems, but that IS a different subject)  and like
 conventional music, Cage's work structures the passing of time  (Has anyone
read Anthony Storr's book, "Music and the Mind?"

 Ths concept of definition is interesting. How you actually 'define' Cage's
work  is, perhaps, irrelevant. But perhaps if we do not think of it as
 "music", maybe we would not be so vehement in our condemnation!

Gould himself did not confine himself to just  'music'. in fact I understand
that he  considered  the Solitude Trilogy to be among the most important
work he  ever did, but even if he considered his 'contrapuntal' voices to be
a kind of music, I would guess not many of the listeners saw it this way.

Well, theres my contribution to the great Cage debate, which I kept thinking
had ended but then popped up again... Thinking about that, (and about
mime)puts me in mind of a mime by Marceau, in which he finds himself trapped
in a prison with invisible walls which are slowly closing in on him; he
keeps managing to escape, but only to find there are yet more invisible
walls outside, closing in on him.....And what does Marceau call this mime?
Why;  "The Cage" , of course.....
OK, you really can all groan at me now. And if anyone wants to yell at me
for adding to this debate, my email address is above!

Gest wishes
Kate

PS ; for admirers of mimimalist music in the UK; "Koyaanisqatsi" is showing
tonight on Channel 4 ....but at 3.05 am. so you'd need to be really keen, or
else, like Mr Gould, an insomniac.