The Cambridge Companion to John Cage (Cambridge Companions to Music) by David Nicholls

Author:David Nicholls [Nicholls, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2002-08-01T03:00:00+00:00

Automation

Much the same is true for the pieces most profoundly affected by the third of Cage’s 1960s discoveries: the possibility that composition could be automated in varying degrees. The first of several I Ching programs was written by Ed Kobrin for use in composing HPSCHD, and thereafter Cage kept handy a stack of printouts, each page containing several dozen hexagrams. To make a choice he referred to the next available hexagram, then crossed it out. As time passed this basic procedure was supplemented by tables which related hexagram numbers to the number of options available; and in the Song Books and many subsequent works Cage actually included a selection of these tables, to facilitate chance operations required of the performer. Thus, for instance, the instructions for Child of Tree (1975) read in part:

Divide the eight minutes into parts by means of the coin oracle of the I Ching.

1–16 = 1

17–32 = 2

33–48 = 3

49–64 = 4

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