Cage, Anderson, Golijov, and Myself

           In this third unit of the class, we have studied three composers, whose musical and aesthetic philosophies are very distinct.  The first composer we studied was John Cage.  He had many ideas about music that were revolutionary at the time.  One of these ideas was the aesthetics of silence.  He believed that silence wasn’t just the absence of sound; it’s a musical object that is equal to others.  He utilized this aesthetic in his piece 4’33”.  In this piece, the performer sits at a piano, and there is silence for 4 minutes and 33 seconds.  The idea is that the audience is listening to the sounds inside the silence.  A musical philosophy that Cage worked through is the idea of umberto ecco, or moment form.  In this idea, each moment in time had nothing to do with the moment before or the moment after.  This philosophy can be seen in many of his works, including Atlas Eclipticalis.  In this piece, there are no tempo markings, measures, or note durations notated.  Each musician is given the music with their part hi-lighted, and it is set up with the time of 60 second intervals.  Each musician decides when it is the time to play their note, depending on how fast or slow they are keeping track of the 60 seconds.  The musician also decides what pitch to play, and how long the note will be held.  Each note has nothing to do with the one before it, or the one after it. 

            The next composer we studied was Laurie Anderson.  Her musical and aesthetic philosophies are both unique like Cage’s, and nothing like Cage’s.  For Anderson, music is as much expressed through the body as through the music itself.  This is evident when watching her performances, like her video of “O Superman.”  Her use of her body through shadows to illustrate her song is almost like a dance.  The song by itself creates an interesting experience, but the song with her performing it creates a whole new, unique experience.  Her philosophy on using the body is also apparent with her drum dance, where she uses technology hooked to her clothes to create the music, as she dances and hit herself in different places to create different sounds.  Technology is also another big part of Anderson’s philosophy on music.  She breaks the barriers of “Man vs Technology” with her music, and is fascinated with using technology to create her music.  Many of her songs, like “Let X=X” has the use of a vocodor, which takes the sounds and words she makes and sings, and creates chords with them.  

            The last composer is Osvaldo Golijov.  He has very different philosophies than the previous two composers.  His musical philosophy works with using different kinds of music to create something unique and not what the audience is expecting.  A big example of this is his work La Pasión según San Marcos.  This piece incorporates a lot of different music, such as Latin, South American, and European.  The text that he uses, while in Spanish, is very true to the story and text we hear in European passions.  The rhythms and beats are very much Latin.  He is quoted as saying “…the main thing in this Passion is to present a dark Jesus, and not a pale European Jesus.  It’s going to be about Jesus’ last days on earth seen through the Latin American experience and what it implies.”  Another unique part to this work is that the voices of the main people, like Jesus and Peter, are not voiced by one soloist.  Multiple people sing their solos, including women.  An example of this is with “I am –Confession”, which is a soprano solo, or “Colorless Moon”, the aria of Peter’s tears, also sung by a woman.

            In the end, each of these three composers have interesting and unique for their time philosophies about their music that is quite evident in their compositions.  Thinking about these philosophies makes me consider what parts of music I find important.  Thus, here is my music manifesto:

1.      The number one thing that I believe and value as a musician is that music is approachable for everybody.  Music is universal.  All societies have music, and I don’t believe there is such a thing as a world without music.  There are elements of music in everything, from pitch in which we talk to the tempo in which we walk.  Given this unavoidability, I believe that every single person should be able to enjoy music, both in listening and creating, regardless of their level of talent.

2.      I believe that music is an emotional expression of both the composer(s) and the performer(s).  In this class in particular, we’ve been studying composers who believe that music can be separated from feelings, but even their music has emotional elements, in the idea that we’re noticing what emotions aren’t there.  I believe that, hard as you try, music creates emotions and feelings in the listener, no matter what type of music it is.

3.      I believe that creating music is a very physical act, and therefore anybody can learn to sing or play an instrument to a degree, regardless of their initial talent.  I have been learning a lot about this fact this year with a few of my other classes specified to singing, because that is my primary instrument.  Many people never pursue singing because they feel that they aren’t talented enough to be any good.  However, singing is all about how you physically use your body to produce the ideal sound, so with the proper training and a teacher who knows what they’re talking about, I believe anybody can learn to sing and make music.

4.      As a musician, I put a lot of value on music in schools, and I believe that it needs to continue to be taught.  Children need creative outlets, music can be used to teach many other educational ideas, and students with knowledge and background in music are generally more well-rounded people.  Music should continue to be part of the educational curriculum in schools.