You can't point to a cloud and say, Hey, I saw that cloud yesterday too. A cloud is of course 'something'. You just can't put a stamp on it in the sense of: this cloud is from the coastal town of 's-Gravenzande. For example, John Cage was indeed a composer, he was just not an ordinary composer. His composing was often the result of preconceived rules, from which the music developed as it were like
… cloud formations. In Hymns and Variations (1979) he pulled two traditional hymns apart. And in such a way that the harmonies go their own way, as recognizable as they are alienated. The other pieces are so-called 'number pieces', where the title indicates the number of performers. The score of such a number piece is in fact a preconceived grid in which tones or sounds manifest themselves. In Four5 the specific sound effects (cooing, bubbling, mewing, whistling, etc.) are chosen by the singers themselves. The pattern in which it moves, however, is that of John Cage. I think he would have appreciated it if people could get the giggles from such a zen-like pandemonium. Yet even this "music," with its long lines and breath, is indeed music, as if you were in a whale like Jonah. (HJ)more