Hey has anyone heard of the longest piece of music ever written? It is called As Slow As Possible by John Cage? Clickhere to see more info.

I hope to hear recordings soon...

surely the first recording won't be available till 639 years' time?

Yes but only if they can get it on to CDs! How many would they have to use I wonder...

-

I try to keep an open mind but sometimes I feel that things are getting a little ridiculous....

QUOTE (Host @ Jan 24 2005, 02:14 PM)

Yes but only if they can get it on to CDs! How many would they have to use I wonder...

4,541,736 assuming that they are 74 minute standard audio CDs, maybe a couple fewer depending on when the leap years fall (and of course if the tempo is adjusted to take them into account) A case where mp3 could make a great saving!

-.

4'33...

...I was just reading an article about it (hope I remembered it right or I really will feel a fool!)

Cage's publishers were suing Mike Batt for royalties because he had put a one minute track of silence on an album, and credited both himself and Cage.

I never know quite what to make of Cage, but you have to credit the guy with managing to sell the idea of 4 and a half minutes of listening to anything but the musician...

True, I wonder if the thing could ever get a finished recording or if actually they'd have to transfer the whole thing to different formats through so many changes, so many different times that they'd never actually get there to a format people could still read....

-

-

QUOTE

People have long got so acclimatised to not listening that it comes as a bit of an ear opener.

And how!
I have tried doing this (not with Cage in attendance) with a group of young children. Sit absolutely still and listen. What can you hear?

At first nothing.
Then they realise they can hear any louder sounds, but the quieter sounds going on all around them aren't easily focused on.
Police car siren - easy.
Normal hum of distant traffic? Yes, one or two heard that.
Birds ? oooh now that's getting ......... no, never noticed those.

We were preparing to find our own pulse and "listen" to our heart-beat, but it wasn't easy.

Maggie

it's rather eerie, don't you think, when you can hear your own heartbeat?

-

yes... doesn't make it any less eerie to me

...this keeps reminding me somehow of bits from the Jostein Gaarder book I'm rereading!

I can't make my mind up as to whether that's going a bit far or not... a silent piece is one thing, but one that lasts for hundreds of years? Will they ever actually finish performing it?

QUOTE (Rhapsodin @ Jan 24 2005, 02:51 PM)

My heartbeat is sometimes strong enough to make the bed quiver slightly. And it can interfere with me listening to the very quietest music.

Rhaps: mine's created ripples in the bathwater I found that slightly freaky first time it happened.

Dance is intrinsically music related, shirley?

Cecilia: who knows?? I guess it depends on so many different things. Will they have to repair the organ whilst it's still being played? It does seem slightly excessive... but an intriguing thought, will they still be going in 600+ year's time...?

QUOTE (cecilia @ Jan 24 2005, 05:36 PM)

Will they ever actually finish performing it?

Well, if they play the whole thing, no. Well, not without...whats the word?....dying, during it.

one assumes they plan to have people ready to take over...

QUOTE (sarah-flute @ Jan 24 2005, 06:14 PM)

one assumes they plan to have people ready to take over...

I can imagine the scene now.
Player 1 keels forward
Player 2: "Well, he's bitten the dust"
Player 3: "ok, bar 5493284 it is then"

Sounds a bit like the Holly Williams thread before it got closed!

QUOTE (woodwind @ Jan 24 2005, 08:17 PM)

Sounds a bit like the Holly Williams thread before it got closed!

*sniff*

*mourns HW thread*

*bursts into tears*

*throws eggs at cheeble*

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Jan 24 2005, 09:23 PM)

*throws eggs at cheeble*

noooooooooooo

now youre hair is all messy!

*skips around, got no school for 2 days*woohoo!

QUOTE (woodwind @ Jan 24 2005, 08:17 PM)

Sounds a bit like the Holly Williams thread before it got closed! Â

As Cage would say, it sounds the same as the Holly Williams thread AFTER it was closed too.
You might almost liken that thread, what I read of it and that wasn't all, to a Cage composition with its many aspects of chance at play.

You need to look beyond the title of this composition surely? I doubt it has bars and time and key signatures.
Didn't cage expect most of his compositions to be playable simultaneously? Perhaps you could permutate.
I like Fontana Mix.

QUOTE (Subatomic_Star @ Jan 24 2005, 07:59 PM)

QUOTE (sarah-flute @ Jan 24 2005, 06:14 PM) one assumes they plan to have people ready to take over... I can imagine the scene now. Player 1 keels forward Player 2: "Well, he's bitten the dust" Player 3: "ok, bar 5493284 it is then"

awwww cheebs.... there there...

-

Has anyone ever read the book Starseeker? It's a childrens book but it's about a guy who can hear almost anything. READ IT.

children's books, when well written, are often the best!

I'll look out for it

QUOTE

Has anyone ever read the book Starseeker? It's a childrens book but it's about a guy who can hear almost anything. READ IT.

I love that book! I must have read it at least 10 times!

How many bars does this piece have? You can play anything for 639 years, as long as you can give a message to your grand children and great grandchildren to keep playing it! Just play one note a year. I don't hink John Cage would have enough time to write the notes, expect if he just told to play them real slow! And if it was recorded, many of the CDs would be half-empty, I think. Well, who can survive playing an organ without stopping for 600 years? So they must have a lot of rests and extra long notes.

And you and your post are part of the performance of this composition, DGA.
.'.

-

I know someone who performed Cages 4'33 - he said he had to practise incredibly hard for it!!

what instrument's it written for? anyone care to transcribe it for flute for me?

-

-

QUOTE (Rhapsodin @ Jan 26 2005, 07:18 PM)

Ah, Nicki, I'd LOVE to.

uh, Rhaps.... *points to username*

oh a really complicated key please, you know how I love my sharps and flats...

-

*much laughter* you're forgiven...

make sure you give Nicki some lovely diminished scales in her silence, so she can get practising them...

QUOTE (Subatomic_Star @ Jan 25 2005, 03:59 AM)

QUOTE (sarah-flute @ Jan 24 2005, 06:14 PM) one assumes they plan to have people ready to take over... I can imagine the scene now. Player 1 keels forward Player 2: "Well, he's bitten the dust" Player 3: "ok, bar 5493284 it is then"

HAHAHAHA. Well,I suppose Player 1 is about 80 year old. I don't think the other two player even have enough time to practice for it.