| | | | | | in Modern Music and you're wanting to stick your big toe into the chilly waters of the WAY OUT, try Cage. He was really a "hippie" all his life and so was happiest in the '60s and early '70s when hippies were popular. I myself met him on the occasion of his 70th birthday and he was still wearing desert boots and denim. Now, if that doesn't tell you something . . . | | | | | | | | | So in conclusion, rattle your musical cage with a bit of Cage and you may look at traditional music up to 1900, the music of our century, and, nay, all sound from A TOTALLY NEW AURAL PERSPECTIVE. | | | | | | | | | An Essay If Music Reflects the Times . . . What Times!!! | | | | | | | | | I'll never forget the tent caterpillar plague of '56. Them little suckers moved into Chezlee, Ont., (and environs, I might add), set up their tents (cobwebby monstrosities everywhere that made the whole county look like the set for Miss Haversham's dining room in Great Expectations) and proceeded to munch, crunch and gobble every single edible leaf, blade, veg or berry for miles. It was a devasting period in all of our lives and my compositional output during this gloomy time reflects the fear and turmoil, the angst and agony of those turged days. | | | | | | | | | Here are the titles of some of my works from that period: | | | | | | | | | Op 41, No. 3 Hommage un dying pansy (for contralto and bass clarinet) | | | | | | | | | Op 43, No. 17 Annus caterpillerus horribilus (a choral and orchestral work, including 2 tractor motors and nails on blackboard) | | | | | | | | | Op 46, When will it end? (An SATB hymn, sung once at the Walmer Falls Gospel Hall, but the pastor took it personally re: his incumbency so it was never sung again) | | | | | | | | | Op 47, (I), (ii) and (iii) An interactive piece for butter churn and any nasty pest, in three parts. | | | | | | | | | Parts (I) - Find the buggers | | | | | | | | | And a choral ode, CREMATORIUM/BUGGEROURIUM | | | | | | | | | The above is a light sampling of my personal output during '56 and shows how the times influence art (or, in my case, music!). | | | | | | | | | So, dear reader, let us cast a swift birdseye view over this last 100 years known as the 20th century to see how its noises affected the sound of the music that was written. I have chosen to do a semi-artistic visual presentation, hitherto untried by any writer in my ken, to allow you to see (and FEEL) | | | | |
