The avant garde

1
The avant garde

• Literally means vanguard or on the cutting edge
  of something

2
John Cage

• Autobiography I Have Nothing to Say and I am
  Saying It
• Radical, avant-garde composer
• Controversial, because some think he is a genius
  some think he is a joke

3
John Cage

• Most famous work 433
• For piano solo
• Aleatoric or chance music
• The music is whatever sounds and/or silences
  occur in the auditorium

4
MIDI

• Acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface
• A protocol that enables computers to communicate
  with synthesizers, drum machines etc.
• Sequencertapeless tape recorder
• Tone modulelike the insides of a synthesizer

5
Digital sampling

• This is a process of borrowing/stealing one
  recorded source and inserting it into another

6
Digital sampling

• This is a process of borrowing/stealing one
  recorded source and inserting it into another

7
Edgard Varese

• Musique Concrete--its the first version of
  digital sampling
• Taking sounds from everyday life (leaves, sirens,
  the human voice) and manipulating them so that
  they are unrecognizable

8
Edgard Varese

• Poeme Electronique (Electronic Poem)
• Written for the 1958 Brussels Worlds Fair
• Phillips Radio Pavillion, designed by Le
  Corbusier, was a fanastic multi-media experience

9
Edgard Varese

• Poeme Electronique (Electronic Poem)
• Written for the 1958 Brussels Worlds Fair
• Phillips Radio Pavillion, designed by Le
  Corbusier, was a fanastic multi-media experience

10
Edgard Varese

• Poéme Electronique (Electronic Poem)
• Written for the 1958 Brussels Worlds Fair
• Phillips Radio Pavillion, designed by Le
  Corbusier, was a fanastic multi-media experience

11
Edgard Varese

• Poéme Electronique (Electronic Poem)
• From hundreds of speakers placed around the
  pavillion, Poeme Electronique was played.

12
Edgard Varese

• while these and hundreds of other images were
  projected on the walls

13
Edgard Varese

• while these and hundreds of other images were
  projected on the walls

14
The printed score

• Poeme electronique exists only on tape
• And the revolutionary concept is that in this
  type of musicit is possible to eliminate the
  performer

15
Performance Art

• These people use any kind of visceral stimulation
  (dance, video, masks, poetry) to enhance or
  deconstruct the musical experience

16
Performance Art

• Pop examples are
• Blue Man Group

17
Performance Art

• Pop examples are
• Blue Man Group
• Stomp

18
Performance Art

• Pop examples are
• Blue Man Group
• Stomp
• Cirque de soleil

19
Performance Art

• Pop examples are
• Blue Man Group
• Stomp
• Cirque de soleil
• David Byrne

20
Performance Art

• Pop examples are
• Blue Man Group
• Stomp
• Cirque de soleil
• David Byrne
• Laurie Anderson

21
minimalism

• In art, in design
• In music
• Takes away (deconstructs) many of the elements in
  what we call normal music
• Involves the (attempted) hypnotic repitition of
  basic interavals and sounds

22
Minimalist Composers

• Phillip Glass

23
Minimalist Composers

• Steve Reich

24
Minimalist Composers

• John Adams

25
Phillip Glass

• Most accomplished of the minimalists

26
Phillip Glass

• Koyaanisqatsi
• Film for which Glass wrote the hypnotic score
• Its a Hopi Indian word that means life out of
  balance

27
Phillip Glass

• Koyaanisqatsi
• Film for which Glass wrote the hypnotic score
• Its a Hopi Indian word that means life out of
  balance