Cage...

[Horace Greeley]

Hi, David,

At 01:24 PM 11/21/2005, you wrote:
>Horace,
>
>Thanks a lot.   The Ballet is only doing 4 of the 6 movements.   We 
>are looking into the New Year for the performance so no hurry.  The 
>pianist wants to start experimenting...apparently on his 
>piano...Steinway O?    They will be renting probably a Yamaha...I'm 
>guessing a C3 could work?

This is very cool...having some more time will be good.

Eric's suggestion in re: Richard Bunger's book is very good...sorry I 
did not think of it.  The only caveat is that when I last talked with 
Richard, he was on the faculty at Cal. State Dominguez Hills (in So. 
Cal.), he was already looking forward to retirement and had "moved on 
to other things" in terms of pianos...mostly that means that he was 
really only interested in his own new compositions and not terribly 
interested in revisiting "old" stuff.  That's some time ago, 
now...so, who knows?

Also, on Richard's book, if I can find my copy, you are more than 
welcome to borrow it.  His notes on Cage are really well worth 
spending some time with.  As Eric notes, they are quite specific and 
would be well worth looking at.  While Richard's recording is not my 
favorite, it is competently done.  If you can find it, there was one 
done by Cage, himself, which was good - for the period; and, as well, 
I heard one fairly recently by (a German?) Schleiermacher...better 
quality of recording, but not the same kind of ethereal sense as with 
the Cage recording.  I am sure that there are 
others...hmmmm....actually I think Julie Steinberg (a local SF artist 
you probably know) made a recording of this (with other stuff) a 
couple of years ago.  Knowing Julie, it will be very, very good.

If an O is not available, an L will work pretty well.  Also, I have 
done a good deal of Cage on C3's and C5's...the thing is just to try 
to have time to play with the placement so that you get something 
like the "original" sound.  Depending on the size of the rehearsal 
hall and performance venue, I would opt for a C5.  I have done 
Perilous Night on a D...and not really quite liked the way it came 
out; but there was not enough time to see what could be done.  Maybe 
someone else has done this on larger instruments.

Hmmm...rattling...sorry.

Best.

Horace









>David Ilvedson, RPT
>Pacifica, California
>
>
>----- Original message ----------------------------------------
>From: "Horace Greeley" <hgreeley@stanford.edu>
>To: ilvey@sbcglobal.net, Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Received: 11/21/2005 11:11:52 AM
>Subject: Re: Cage...
>
>
>
> >Hi, David,
>
> >OK...can't believe I got lucky so soon...I've attached a PDF of the
> >page from the score where Cage outlines the setup.  I used to have
> >some photographs of various setups like this, but cannot find them just now.
>
> >You'll need to make a trip to the hardware store for some of the
> >stuff you will want.  Some suggestions:
>
> >  - "Rubber"             - I've mostly used cut-off pieces of rubber
> >wedge mute.
> >  - "Weather Stripping"  - The kind of open-cell stuff (without the
> >adhesive backing) sold at Home Depot/etc for leaky window frames.
> >  - "Bamboo"             - A split and/or cut-off chop-stick, if a
> >fairly slender (dry) bamboo shoot is not available.
> >  - "Wood & Cloth"       - A wedge of soft wood with thin cloth (a
> >shard of soundboard spruce and fallboard felt works).
> >  - Screws, Bolts, Nuts  - A "variety pack" approach should do
> >it.  You'll want several plate screw type and size flat head wood
> >screws.  Also, several different sizes
> >and                      lengths of bolts.  It's a lot safer for the
> >instrument if you work from your own stock of stuff.
> >  - "Rubber Washer"       - Water valve washers work perfectly.
>
> >This piece (like, I think, most of Cage's prepared piano works) was
> >written specifically to be setup and performed on an S&S Model
> >O.  All of the measurements and placements will be affected if
> >another model is used.  Since this will be used with dance, folks may
> >be concentrating on whatever is happening on stage...however, there
> >is a difference in resonance which can be noticeable if you do not
> >have time to "play" with the placement of the muting items.  While
> >most of the measurements are made from the dampers, the top three
> >notes are done from the bridge working back along the speaking length.
>
> >I will be coming back from Berkeley later this afternoon and would be
> >glad to stop by if you wish.
>
> >This piece is pretty long, for Cage (14 - 15 minutes); and not often
> >done...most of the recordings out there are not really clean enough
> >to get a good sense of the ephemeral nature of the instrument in this use.
>
> >Hope this is of some use.
>
> >Best.
>
> >Horace
>
>
> >At 10:01 AM 11/21/2005, David Ilvedson wrote:
>
> >>List,
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>The SF Ballet is doing a John Cage piece...Perilous Night.   Anyone
> >>understand how the preparing of the piano progresses for these
> >>pieces?   I haven't had the "pleasure" of preparing a piano before.
> >>
> >>
> >>David Ilvedson, RPT
> >>Pacifica, California