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Are my ears on wrong?--a profile of Charles Ives (BBC-TV/Open University; producer, David M. Thompson.Media Guild, 1982.) is an excellent dramatization with archival footage of the life of Charles Ives. In this video Elliott Carter and Aaron Copland (both seminal American composers in their own right) reminisce about Charles Ives. After watching this video discuss how American modernism would have been on a different course if not for the music of Ives. |
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Henry Cowell's unusual piano playing techniques and notation make his contributions to American modernism particularly bold. Cowell has recorded many of his own piano pieces and they are available on a CD titled "Piano Music Of Henry Cowell" (Smithsonian Folkways Records; Cambridge, Mass.: Distributed by Rounder Records, p1993.). On this disc Cowell discusses each of the works on the CD. Compare his performance with another recording you find in your library. |
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Henry Cowell's book "New Musical Resources" has been reprinted by Cambridge Univ. Press. Look through it for an overview impression then zero in on one chapter to learn about the changes Cowell is recommending. Write a short essay, or prepare a brief class presentation, to show his recommendations and suggest why they haven't caught on in the mainstream of music. |
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There is a wealth of material concerning the maverick John Cage. It may help you to understand his complex work by seeing Cage in performance and there are two videos that address this quite directly. "I Have Nothing to Say and I am Saying It" (Chicago: Home Vision, 1990) and a recent DVD from Mode Records entitled "From Zero" (Mode 130) are excellent introductions to Cage's way of making art. |
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John Cage's first published book "Silence: Lectures and Writings" (Wesleyan Univ. Press, 1961) is a kind of manifesto for Cage's work. Nearly every library has a copy and after you look and read through it, try to explain why there is such diverse topics, typographies and page layouts for the book. That is to say, is there anything about the book's production that reinforces Cage's aesthetic of art? |
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