Cage...

Horace Greeley hgreeley@stanford.edu
Mon, 21 Nov 2005 11:11:52 -0800


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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

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