- Additional Authors
- Found In
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Description
- 1 streaming audio file (121 minutes) : digital, mono
- Summary
- (0:00-21:50) Electronic music, unidentified but likely composed by John Cage. (21:51-22:14) Recording gap.
- (22:15-53:06) John Cage gives a lecture consisting of short, anecdotal writings; some of the writings are selected from his books: Silence: lectures and writings (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1961), and A year from Monday: new lectures and writings (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1967); [ca. 35:15 and ca. 36:01, short low tones interfere with the recording]. (53:07-53:54) Recording gap and audience applause.
- (53:55-57:26) Ohio University Dean, Jack Morrison (1912-1997), introduces John Cage and Merce Cunningham to the audience.
- (57:47-1:29:22) Cheap imitation, solo piano music for Cunningham's Second Hand (1970) is played live, likely by John Cage.
- (1:04:56-1:29:22) Merce Cunningham speaks about dance while Cheap imitation continues to be played; Cunningham describes the overall shape and weight distribution of the human body, especially in relation to sculptural composition; body shape and physical movements; momentum in relation to human movements; theatrical dance technique and pedestrian movements; his interest in human weight and density in relation to his selection of dancers and his choreography; his choreography and visual perception; the first movements that he makes when creating a new piece; dancers and the physical purposes of their warm-ups; he quotes from an Edwin Denby article about the repetitive nature of dance rehearsals; the paradox between dance preparation and the achievement of a free quality in dance; his artistic philosophy that determines the separation of his choreography from musical phraseology; more on his choreographic interest in separating the production components of a dance piece; describes his [Merce Cunningham Dance] Company, especially the types of performance venues in which the Company performs; he briefly describes the selections from his repertory that composed a gymnasium Event performed in New Paltz, NY; the audience's visual perception of dance when performed on a stage versus when performed in theater in the round or an open space; his observations regarding an increase of public interest in dance; briefly, the individualism within modern dance.
- (1:29:23-2:01:16) Audience applause followed by a question and answer period with Cage and Cunningham responding briefly [audience questions are very far from the microphone but some are audible]; Cage speaks about the reasons for his not having a stereo or musical instruments at home; Cunningham speaks about his choreographic decision for movement to be independent of sound; Cage speaks about their early collaborative process; Cunningham speaks about his compositional form in relation to examples from daily life experiences and media; some of the difficulties in shooting dance for television; an anecdote on audience perceptions of How to pass kick, fall and run (1965); an anecdote on the physical properties of [Andy Warhol's] pillows [in Rainforest (1968)]; Cage speaks about the influence of D.H. Suzuki and Zen Buddhism on his compositions; more artistic influences on Cage, including Lou Harrison and the concept of a quiet mind; Cage's short responses to inaudible questions, including a description of the audience's spatial arrangement during a performance at the University of Illinois; Cage lists the six categories of sounds that he devised for composing his chance operations: city sounds, country sounds, sounds technologically produced, sounds manually produced, sounds wind produced, sounds requiring amplification; briefly, how he manipulated these sounds; a summary of how he composed Cheap imitation; Cunningham speaks about dance training and his belief that study should not be serious until after 9 or 10 years of age; briefly, how he defines a good teacher and training; how he oriented to the performance space for this lecture-demonstration and the purposes behind his warm-up being done in front of the audience; Cage's interest in Marcel Duchamp including his current work and Duchamp's philosophy that the observer completes the work of art; [recording ends abruptly].
- Uniform Title
- How to pass, kick, fall and run (Choreographic work : Cunningham)
- Second hand (Choreographic work : Cunningham)
- Alternative Title
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials.
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Live sound recordings.
- Lecture-demonstrations.
- Note
- Title provided by cataloger based on audition and handwritten notes on original container.
- Handwritten notes on original container: "Cage-Cunningham 1/29/1970, Kennedy Lecture - Dialogue, O.U. ; Ohio University ; Merce Cunningham Dialogue, John Cage @ 3 3/4 ; (5-210 music (211- Cage (5 Introd. (Dean Jack Morrison) (583 Merce".
- Sound quality is uneven but mostly audible with a soft recording hiss throughout. The electronic music is distorted, at times, due to the high volume of the recording levels. The very beginning of John Cage's speech is soft in volume and then quickly levels out to a normal volume. Sound quality for Merce Cunningham's speech is mostly good as he speaks over the piano playing; there are occasional increases in volume of the piano solo over Cunningham's speech.
- Donor's inventory number: R123.
- Access (note)
- Patrons can access streaming audio only on site at NYPL Research Libraries.
- Source (note)
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation
- Linking Entry (note)
- Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Call Number
- *LT-7-A 2355
- OCLC
- 880675208
- Title
John Cage and Merce Cunningham : lecture-demonstration for the Kennedy Lecture Series at Ohio University.
- Production
January 19, 1970.
- Playing Time
020116
- Type of Content
spoken word
- Type of Medium
audio
- Type of Carrier
audiotape reel
online resource
- Digital File Characteristics
audio file
- Event
Recorded at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, 1970 January 19.
- Original Version
Archival original: (1 audiotape reel (129 minutes) : analog, 3 3/4 ips, half track, mono ; 7 in.) in *LT-7-A 2355.
- Restricted Access
Patrons can access streaming audio only on site at NYPL Research Libraries.
- Linking Entry
Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Local Note
Transferred from original open tape reel by the New York Public Library's Audio and Moving Image Preservation (PAMI) sound engineering staff at the Library for the Performing Arts on January 14, 2014. To create the streaming file, the sound engineers edited out the recording silences in the preservation file, thus the discrepancies in length between the preservation file and the streaming file.
- Source
Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.
- Connect to:
- Added Author
Cage, John, speaker.
Cage, John, composer.
Cage, John, instrumentalist.
Cunningham, Merce, speaker.
Morrison, Jack, 1912-1997, presenter.
Container of (work): Cage, John. Cheap imitation.
Ohio University.
Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, donor.
- Added Title
Music for (work) : How to pass, kick, fall and run (Choreographic work : Cunningham)
Music for (work) : Second hand (Choreographic work : Cunningham)
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials.
- Found In:
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Research Call Number
*LT-7-A 2355