Passing Tones : Meg's Reich2Radiohead Blog

Peanuts, scrolling across images paired with music that most only hear or see in an odd hallucinatory dreams. Throw yourself back to 1958 and imagine seeing this on a screen. Its the 1950s - this is shocking, World War II is barely out of the minds of the world. Of course you're sitting in a building that shaped like a space craft from the Jetsons and there are about 400 speakers surrounding your skull. Blips and bleeps emit from all of these speakers as an example of the incredible sound quality of Philips products. You are in the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Worlds Fair in Brussels, and Varese, Le Corbusier, and Xenakis are putting on a show.

I find this event to be incredibly exhilarating, just like attending the premiere of Glass' Einstein on the Beach, or the upcoming premiere of Adam's Doctor Atomic would be like. Of course the other two I just mentioned were operas but the Philips Pavilion was an art installation that was lost forever in Jan of 1959 when it was bulldozed over. Varese was one of the first electro-acoustic composers, and this had to be one of the first major art installation events of the 20th century combining architecture, music, film, and technology. It seems like pioneers such as Varese, Stockhausen, and Schaffer blazed the early path of electro-acoustic music and then Cage, Stockhausen, Xenakis, and Babbitt continued to advanced with the genre until the advent of the synthesizer and computers.

These early electro acoustic pioneers were innovative and created complex instruments with the, what we would call, limited technology of the time. The Theremin is a clear example of this. The original theremins looked like small drop-down-front desks with a metal antenna sticking out of the top and a metal loop usually on the left side. The box essentially looked like an odd piece of furniture, but the incredible sound that lay within would change the way the world heard music. The eerie violin like moans that the object emitted were other-worldy and a living example of science fiction. For 1919 this instrument was incredibly new and modern. The Theremin blended with acoustic instruments well, many compositions were composed for the instrument. The Theremin's cousin the Ondes Martenot came out in 1928. The Ondes Martenot is a bit more complicated than the Theremins easier waving of hands in the air to control pitch and volume. The Ondes Martenot had many pieces written for it; the most famous piece is Oliver Messiaen's Turangalia Suite. The Martenot is set up like a keyboard however in-front of the keys is a string usually with a ring attached to it. the user would move the string in a horizontal movement into the grooves which corresponded with each key to create sound and rich vibrato. The Martenot also has a complicated amplification system. There are volume and pitch controls usually in a little drawer on the side of the keyboard which can control the sound more technically than a Theremin. Also there are three output devices, the loudspeaker, gong (literally a gong), and the palm (a loudspeaker like unit that has strings strung across the sound hole to create vibrations and pitches).The Ondes is pretty much an extinct instrument due to its limited production and expensive price tag. However, a group of musicians in France have developed a modern version of the instrument called the Ondea (I Google Translated it, so its like reading a riddle, but its better than not understanding the French at all!):
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chez.com%2Fcslevine%2Fondes%2FOndes_5.htm&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

Its hard to believe but a current band out there actually uses the (almost extinct) Ondes Martenot. Yes, everyone it happens to be Radiohead (I think they are starting to live up to being part of the title: R2R!). Jonny Greenwood the 'abusive' (he is called this because of his aggressive playing style) lead guitarist happens to play this rare instrument, and has revived some of its popularity. He has not only composed many parts for the instrument in Radiohead songs, but has also composed a sound track (for the movie Bodysong) and many of his own post-classical compositions featuring the instrument. Jonny follows the ideas and styles of his favorite composers such as Messiaen, Part, Penderecki, and Gorecki, while implementing his own ambiance and dynamic intensity that he creates in Radiohead. Jonny just might be the next 'big thing' on the post-classical scene, he is already the chief composer for the BBC orchestra.

Overall, the film was incredible. That was the second time I have watched it in full. I found it on the UBU site and watched it last weekend. I later found a wonderful article on the entire installation. Here is the article:
http://www.lib.umd.edu/ARCH/honr219f/1958brus.html
Apparently Le Corbusier had a huge part in the entire production at the Philips Pavilion. This film was his main idea. It turns out that Le Corbusier had little to do with the design of the building, that was pretty much all of Xenakis' design. The Philips company wanted Benjamin Britten's music to be played inside. That would have been different! Varese fits the events theme to a "T" and Le Corbusier pleaded until Varese was their man. The film was supposed to be abstract and very symbolic. It was created by the filmmaker Philippe Agostini. The film was planned to be eight minuets in total and to have many different scenes of current/past events that would create a reaction by the audience as well as a interaction with the music. There were seven different themes to the film: "Genesis, Matter and Spirit, From Darkness to Dawn, Manmade gods, How Time Molds Civilization, Harmony, and To All Mankind." The themes definitely weave themselves through the film effectively. As you can probably tell I really loved the film and found an incredible interaction between film and music.

And now to Babbitt. To pair Philomel and Poem Electronique in the same day is just mind-blowing. Philomel is one part Varese and the Poem another part Schoenberg's Pierrot another part Berio Sinfonia and lastly another part early Atari Game sounds. Absolutely scary piece of music. Sprechstimme has to be one of the most creative and frightening methods of singing ever created. Assuming a pitch to just, in this particular score, what looked like a percussion symbol is more or less improvisation in the most organized form possible. Philomel is a highly interactive piece, it constantly is mixing electronic elements in with natural methods of creating music. The blips and beeps that back up the effected and non-effected voice are something out of a late 70s video game. There was one point in the song, I questioned if both voices were effected because the range of the singer was pushed so high I wondered if it was humanly possible. Clearly this is a virtuosic performance that creates uneasiness and the same type of mood that is created by Pierrot Lunaire with the Sprechstimme. This was only the second or third time i have heard this piece, and with each listen it really surprises me, either with the range of the vocals or the improvisatory-like electronic blips.

This Weeks Music:

Course Music:
Edgard Varese - Poem Electronique
Milton Babbitt - Philomel

Music for personal listening (related to course):
Death Cab for Cutie -Transatlanicism, Plans
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is Not a Cold Dead
Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV vol.1
Eurythmics - Greatest Hits
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights, Antics
Sigur Ros - Takk
Radiohead - Kid A
Cave In - Perfect Pitch Black
Pelican - The Fire, Australasia, The EPs
Jesu - Jesu
Isis - Panopticon
Chimaira - Chimaira
Monteverdi - Vespers of 1610
Arcadelt - Il bianco e dolce cigno

John Cage is a funny man with a passion for music and mushrooms. Today's class was the first time I have ever heard his voice, and in that moment I realized how much he was one of the musical masterminds of the 20th century. Cage was straight out of the era of the Beat generation (the term is involved mostly with the literary contingency of the following list, but also can cover the artists and musicians of the time). Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Merce Cunningham, Jackson Pollack, Robert Rauschenberg, and Cage (among others) all shared ideas with each other. Cage in particular had close relations with Cunningham and Rauschenberg. Cage had a swagger to his voice, the same sound I have heard in a recording of Kerouac's voice when reading his poetry, these guys simply sounded intellectually cool. And cool they were; all of them were innovators and set up basically the second wave of modern thought in America in the 20th century.

Cage started out with Cowell as his teacher and then Schoenberg. Schoenberg made a deal with Cage; if Cage promised to spend the rest of his life dedicated to music Schoenberg would teach him for free. After Schoenberg's teachings Cage got involved in composing for dance companies across the west coast, and shortly after became composer for Merce Cunningham. Cunningham's dance company has been one of the premier dance companies in America since the 1950s (Cage had been working with Cunningham since the mid-40s). Of course then Cage invented the prepared piano and we have never looked back since. Compositions were composed on the prepared piano for the dance company because the majority of the spaces the dance company performed in could not accommodate a full instrumental ensemble. The sound of a prepared piano is amazing, when prepared the piano finally embodies its function as a percussion instrument.

On a modern note, Aphex Twin (Richard D. James) the ambient and IDM trailblazer has himself composed prepared piano pieces. While being a guest on a BBC radio show Aphex Twin heard one of Cage's Sonatas for prepared piano and was inspired to create. He took a Yamaha Disklavier and programmed his piece into it, prepared the piano and it sounds just like the works of Cage or Satie (both influence of Aphex Twin). Out of nowhere on his Drukqs album comes these beautiful odd sounding piano pieces that are set apart from the electronic soundscape built up during the progression of the album. Oh and did I mention that Aphex Twin cannot read a single note of music... His prepared piano works can be heard on the Drukqs album (on iTunes):
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?s=143441&playlistId=50235099

For a second afterthought in 2003 Merce Cunningham, Radiohead, and Sigur Ros tripled up for a set of concerts entitled Split Sides that were premiered in Brooklyn and toured around the world (Sigur Ros performed at the Brooklyn, London, and Paris premiers, Radiohead only performed at the Brooklyn premier). Until this point Sigur Ros and Radiohead had never seen the Merce Cunningham dance company, and Merce had no idea who Radiohead or Sigur Ros were until the bands were sent invitations to play. Finding parallels with his longtime composer, Cage, Cunningham agreed to do a set of 40 min dances to the commissioned pieces that each band composed. Composers and Choreographer went their separate ways to create Split Sides. Radiohead brought their synthesizers, modular drum machines, sequencers, samplers and computers. Sigur Ros invented a new rhythmic instrument that integrated ballet slippers, they also brought the usual synths, and keyboards. Radiohead (only bootlegs exist of this composition) went for more of a improvisational method of composition while Sigur Ros composed their piece beforehand and later released Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do (on iTunes):
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=5241760

Overall the entire event was an incredible success and won rave reviews, although there was some criticism over its overly improvisitory -open style, from the critics. A good article from The New Yorker can be found here:
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/dancing/?031103crda_dancing

Getting back to Cage, he was a Renaissance man with an extremely complex mind. Cage was a musician, an artist, writer, philosopher, eastern religious follower, mycologist, cook, the man was everywhere at once! Cage was innovative, he was wired for creativity; it was even in his blood, his father was an inventor. After his prepared piano phase Cage entered a new period, the Silence stage. He wrote his famous book: Silence that changed the mindset of not only music but the visual arts. 4'33" was composed which made everyday sounds music itself. Critics lashed back at Cage calling him more of a philosopher than a musician. As cage got more and more into western philosophy and the iChing he moved towards Chance Operations which totally turned the critics on their heads. Some claimed Cage was discrediting himself, however, Cage was an innovator and was breaking musical boundaries.

We viewed a video for Cage's 70th Birthday. A piece that particularly caught my ears was Roratorium which was based on Joyce's Finnigan's Wake. For the most part I am a huge fan of Cage and pretty much every composition I have heard from him up to Roratorium I have liked. At first I was undecided on Roratorium. From a musical aspect it combines so many interesting innovated elements such as Irish Fiddlers and tape effects with Cage speaking different phrases he put together from the text of Joyce that also spelled out his name. The method in which Cage arranged the words and phrases that made up the text of the piece was ingenious. I found it to be a massive cacophony of sound that after a while was almost an overload of so many different sounds. Overall the work is amazing mixing a folk element to avant-garde classical tape loops and spoken word. Seeing Cage in action explaining his own works was also an incredible experience. It truly came from the source.

Overview of my music listening since the beginning of this course to now:

Music I have bought/downloaded:
Varese - Density 21.5
Cowell - The Banshee

Music I Own:
Cage: Sonatas and Interludes
Zorn: Spillane, Kristallnacht

Music for personal listening (related to course):
Pelican - The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw
Sigur Ros - Takk
Radiohead - OK Computer
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Aqualung - Strange and Beautiful
Cave In - Jupiter, Perfect Pitch Black
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Mastodon - Leviathan
As I Lay Dying - '94 Hours'
Imogen Heap - Speak for Yourself
M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
Christopher O'Riley - Hold Me To This
Steve Peters - From Shelter
Leos Janacek - On the Overgrown Path
Bach - Violin Concertos
(Berio, and 100 yr ago concert pieces)
Mashups too...

When I think of Musique Concrète I think of the early days of electronica. I think of tape splices, luck and courage, as well as an imaginative mind, and innovation. However, the following pieces have nothing to do with the experimental electronica I speak of. Both pieces: Density 21.5 and The Banshee focus on tone, color and the idea of the sound going into a three dimensional space where it has no bounds and can change its shape. Varèse and Cowell took these early ideas of the future and ran with it to the ends of the earth and back again.
Speaking of the ends of the earth I would like to start with Cowell's The Banshee. Using just a man and a piano Cowell creates one of the most frightening pieces I have ever heard in my life. In class was the first time I heard both of those pieces and I was astounded. I have heard pieces which were composed for the pianist to reach into the piano and pluck, grab, strum, and to do whatever to the strings that the score demands. The Banshee however captures an odd ethereal sense of pushing spacial bounds through music and sound. Much like ambient music created by the likes of Brian Eno or (early) Aphex Twin the spacial aspect of the sound flowing in and out. The piece is incredibly unsettled. It begins with the scratching of strings, followed with scratching and quasi-glissandos with the occasional pluck of a string. This continues over and over like a bad nightmare pulling to and from the listeners ears. The plucked strings every so often is much like an anchor of the piece. of The score we viewed was just as disturbing. I can't imagine sitting down and reading a score like that. I have viewed some oddly notated scores of Stockhausen and Penderecki and sat there amazed (and not understanding it!) It must make even experienced musicians feel music illiterate at times too look at variations of 20th century notation.
In Density 21.5 Varèse captures the idea of sound in space as well as having variation with tone and color. Density 21.5 takes that platinum flute and expands its dynamic range at times to the height of the upper levels of the atmosphere. Every trill, elaboration and high pitch makes this piece virtuosic through and through. Silence is a very essential part of the piece as well, between the trills and pops it creates its own notes in frequencies unheard of. Varèse creates a spacial ambiance in the piece by having the sound flow back and forth to the listener. There is a certain lamentation to the piece as well, possibly a social message. Density was written around the beginning of WWII. It is possible that the intense range of moods, from somber to hostile can be a reaction to the events of the war. Since Varèse was born in France (though lived in the US most of his life) he grew up with the perspective and roots of a European.
Overall what I heard today connects alot with the ideas of not only ambient electronica but also with post-rock. There is a ton of bands such as: Godspeed You Black Emperor, Mogwai (in some cases), Slint, Radiohead (at times...), Sigur Ros etc (meaning a bunch of other post-rock bands - too many to list) that try to have that in your face, but then drawn back sound. During the course of the piece or song the dynamic levels fluctuate up and down along the lines of the three dimensional space much like that created by Cowell and Varèse. Interesting selections. Now I am really interested in more by Cowell. So much 20th Century music sooooo little time!

The first playlist was interesting, eclectic, and exactly what the class is all about. Mixing rock with classical, classical with electronic, or all three (and all their sub-genres) together is what happens in a society where the best musicians are never heard and "anyone can play guitar." Music today is in a blender. Some people say "let classical die" others say "rock is evil." I once read an article where Pope Benedict XVI was quoted saying "Rock music is the instrument of the devil." I am still standing here scratching my head asking, what is all the fuss?!
Call me a post-modernist or whatever but seriously can we all just watch the evolution instead of being another critic, to the long line of music critics that have ruined part of popular and classical music's greatness over the past 40+ years. Classical, Rock, and Electronica are joining forces at once because of innovative minds sitting in their basements, studios, practice rooms etc, and twiddling knobs on amps, mixers, drum machines, even the tuning pegs on cellos and violins! Its happening the great convergence of sound, where a wash of noise is the new Symphony no.9 or the blips along with a vocal track dubbed on-top is the next greatest hit (not only to make money but to also break new sound barriers).
Technology is the key here. A Digital Guitar? 20 amps in one? multi effects, digital layering, Pro Tools goodies, Max MSP that makes your mix go glitch and crash, and that was how you wanted it to sound? YES YES YES this thing that I mash my fingers upon right now this little technological box of wonder (if you can even call an iBook that) is a musical nightmare and heaven all at once. A Digital Juggernaut that has ripped apart the face of music is simply a box a machine CPU, HD, Memory, Logic Board, a few parts for an extremely complex world. Hard to believe that this has been going on for over 50 years and finally now its an 8.0 earthquake. Stockhausen and Xenakis were playing with music and computers long before most of us who read this were even breathing! Though, today most still insist on analog technologies, recording on tape cutting mixing etc. Basically what forefathers such as Schaeffer did to create musique concrète. Even then eventually the analog process is lost to digital mastering or even the CD or MP3 format.
Playlist #1 (and probably subsequent playlists) make me think of all the wonderful musical genres coalescing into sub-genres and new forms. Will classical keep on its route to becoming museum music and experimental? Will modern classical (post-classical if i dare) branch off and mix with modern genres and styles as it progressively has been over the past 15 years? Will rock become increasingly complex and run parallel with the techniques of classical? I cannot say...
On another note lets take a step back to 3 wonderful composers who not only changed classical music forever, but if it wasn't for them there wouldn't be rock, electronica, or even pop (do I dare relate SS&D to pop music!). We quickly went through Debussy's Sunken Cathedral, Stravinsky's Petrushka, and Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire. All three of these contributions shook the ground of the music world.
Every moment of Debussy's Impressionism in the Sunken Cathedral's decent into the water is matched to a note or chord. This creates the ambiance and water like texture created by rubato and pedal work. Each of the upward chord progressions is marked by a descending low note which really captures the movement of the cathedral plunging into the deep surrounded by other-worldish mists. This blurring and bubbling (especially in the last third of the piece) of sound was not heard in music since Beethoven's time. Debussy pushed the boundaries of tonal ideas and expression as seen in Sunken Cathedral.
Stravinsky's Petrushka captures the Primitivism of the pre WWI period. Stravinsky (and many other artists and composers of the time) looked back to primitive forms of human interaction, way of life, and mindset. He looked back to early Russian cultural concepts as well as to many folk tunes which are interspersed throughout the piece. A rhythm is the basic form of making music (in most cases) a simple taping on a table is enough to create some sort of rhythm. What Stravinsky embodied was the idea of using phrases over and over repeating and also layering on-top of each other. Hence we have ostinati throughout the piece as the main theme is repeated then variations of the theme are elaborated upon. The memorable theme is created by the flute in the very beginning of the piece. Violins then repeat the theme until others in the string and brass sections elaborate on the theme. The flute then returns with the familiar beginning. This process is continuous throughout the piece as the main theme returns and then mutates into many different forms through other parts laid on top. Stravinsky was the leader of the Primitivism movement which looked to the past to create the future of music.
Our dear friend Schoenberg was the leader of the Expressionist movement in Germany. At the same time Freud was developing his ideas of psychology. This movement to look into the inner-self and interpret the subconscious swept the world during this period. In Pierrot Lunaire Schoenberg looks into the inner subconscious though its atonality as well as Sprechstimme. Sprechtimme is comparable to the idea of 'the shrieking of the soul.' The singer assumes the pitches that Schoenberg has laid out in the score. Overall Pierrot Lunaire is an extremely complex work that touches upon the beginning of the twelve tone system as well as embodying atonality completely.
How do all these composers fit into where we are today? Assume I think of one of the songs off the playlist. Okay its a given but its National Anthem from Radiohead. Right there I can compare it to Stravinsky how both pieces have in mind the idea of ostinati throughout. In National Anthem the strong bass riff mixes with Thoms vocals and a complex drum part (as well as synths and other guitars too!). Sigur Ros reminds me a bit of Debussy how they create such large ambient spaces through sound. Debussy tries to create the same idea through the image of the Cathedral as it sinks. Also Sigur Ros can be compared to Schoenberg. Jonsi, the lead singer/guitarist of Sigur Ros created his own language on the ( ) album called Hopelandic, where he too sounds like he is mirroring the assuming of pitches that is involved with Sprechstimme. Zorn can be compared with Stravinsky as well in how he tends to have one part or theme playing then another comes in replacing it or creating a variation of it. Its amazing how music has evolved in 100 years. The impact has hardly been felt.
One thing I look forward in this course is to see where my perspective will come out in the end. Most courses dramatically change my perspective and understanding of the world. All of these topics are very close to me and drive me to study music, but what will i think in the end. Will I see the genres in a new light? I guess I will find out. Posing that question will cause me to contemplate this issue in December when its all over, although I don't think the progression of ideas will ever cease.

Well this is yet another Blog of mine. This one however is for a killer class I am in called Reich to Radiohead. I will be posting all kinds of great stuff in there for the class that I am working on. In a way this works really well with my Root Position Life Blog b/c it shows my progress of what I am doing right here and now... Interesting. I am out got to go to class.