John Cage - Three Dances for Two Prepared Pianos: Dance No. 1

Harmony & Tonality

Structure & Form

Texture

General Context

Instrumentation

Melody

Rhythm & Metre

Written for 2 prepared pianos

John Cage (1912-1992) was one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. His one-time teacher Arnold Schoenberg famously described him as 'an inventor of genius'.

Tempo = 88 minims per minute and Metre = 2/2

Patterns of note recur but are perceived much more in rhythmic terms than as having a real melody

Occasional triad shapes do not sound as triads

2 piano parts are independent - one never doubles the other - the patterns and ideas are generally different in each

Each section is split into figures - units of bars that follow this pattern: 30 bars split into 2-5-2, 2-6-2, 2-7-2 for each of the 9 sections

Like Debussy before him, Cage was influenced by oriental music, specifically the Javanese/Balinese Gamelan (comprises only percussive instruments w/ fast interlocking patterns). Indian rhythmic structures, particularly the tala were also an important influence.

Cage wrote a lot of music for dance and had a lifetime collaboration with dancer/choreographer Merce Cunnigham (1919-2009) - he also worked as a music director for multiple contemporary dance groups.

Three Dances for Two Prepared Pianos: No.1 is a virtuoso work for two amplified prepared piano composed in 1944 and premiered early 1945. It was written for a dance piece called Dromenon by choreographer Merce Cunningham. The dance had African emphasis - a piano was available but Cage thought a standard piano wouldn't be suitable to produce the ethnic quality required.

So, Cage experimented with the inside of the piano + discovered that by placing a variety of objects between the strings, the piano sounded more like a percussion ensemble. He found a set of materials that worked best - less likely to fall between the strings or leap out from them.

These materials include: screws, bolts, washers, nuts, rubber, plastic, cloth, wood, pennies

Cage was a champion of Chance music and a pioneer of the Happening

Chance music = Also known as aleatoric music, is music in which an element of composition is left to chance or a primary element of realisation is left to the performer(s).

A Happening is a performance, event or situation which is considered to be art, a term first used in the 1950s by Allan Kaprow, a student of Cage

We hear nothing that corresponds to any recognised form of harmony, functional or non-functional

The score provides the performers w/ full rhythmic information but beyond that it merely tells which key to strike. It does not indicate the actual pitches.

'Pedal points' is some passages but have no harmonic/tonal significance

No sense of tonality - because can only exist where clearly defined pitches and obvious hierarchy of pitches

Few possible exceptions - 2-bar pattern in Piano 1 RH that's heard total 16 times in Sections 8&9; Fig 50 - 'rising pattern' gives sense of build up

Use of ostinato - short repeated figures are important e.g. 3-note pattern in P1RH at beginning

Dynamics & Accents

Important in piece though preparations mean sounds are often quieter than usual

Mostly quiet but 'gradual diminuendo through the repeat to the end' - direction in score

At times little/no dynamic change e.g. opening and fig 17 --> gives almost machine like quality

strong dynamic contrasts e.g. v quiet beginning to fig 36 then ff passage w/ repeated accents very soon afterwards

Mostly 4-part texture e.g. Fig 5 but Cage varies texture constantly

These include:

Monophony (Bar 3 of Fig 5)

2-part (Fig 6)

3-part (Fig 7)

Silences (final sections at fig 64/73 - gives power to following)

Homorhythm (Fig 7&9 - helps clarify 2/2 metre)

"Mutes of various materials are placed between the strings of the keys used, thus effecting transformation of the piano sounds with respect to all of their characteristics"

Most notes have 3 strings - he specified which would be affected & how near the bridge/dampers the item is placed

Traditionally mute restricts vibration of string but here muting device stops normal resonance, leaving percussive sound

Using una corda (soft pedal) hammer just strikes one string cause (on grand piano) all hammers move to the left when pedal is pressed

Only 'prepared' notes are used so no ordinary piano tone is heard.

Pianos are amplified in performance by microphones

Silence emphasises dynamics e.g. end of fig 4

Metrical shifts create accents at unusual points in bar e.g. Fig 41 --> Accents emphasise metrical shifts e.g. opening 2 phrases

Each small group has its own type of rhythm

8 sections, with the last repeated, so 9 sections - each are 30 bars

This kind of structure is related to the Indian Tala, though the Indian version groups beats not bars

The structure is based on tempo and rhythm

Ornaments e.g. acciaccatura bar 29 & septuplet (w/ metrical shift) bar 63 --> rhythmic embellishment

Almost entirely crotchets and quavers - longer notes/rests often used to mark end of section

Often continuous quaver movement gives sense of moto perpetuo (continuous motion)

Frequent use of polyrhythm e.g. opening phrase = P1 sets of 3 quavers in both hands, P2 has LH crotchet rhythms with varying stressed accented beats and RH off-beat syncopated quaver 8ves

Phrases repeated at different positions in bar giving metrical shift effect e.g. fig 23 w/ septuplet --> hectic & fig 26 - accents and moto perpetuo in P2 is highly polyphonic

Rhythm is the most important feature of the piece, closely followed by Sonority

Use of rhythmic ostinato (repeated motifs) helps ensure coherence e.g. fig 20 - although often works against underlying 2/2 metre

Edgard Varèse - French-born composer

Ionisation - composed 1931 - expansion and variation of rhythmic cells - 1st western classical to be scored for solely percussion ensemble --> Gamelan influence

Varèse - Ionisation - also abandons notions of melody & harmony to focus on texture

Varèse - Ionisation - also abandons notions of melody & harmony to focus on texture

Ionisation - scored for 13 musicians - specific instructions for instrumentation --> opening - gong and bass drum are struck simultaneously so short hollow sound of drum appears to hang in the air

use of gong, cencerro, slapstick, Chinese blocks, sleigh-bells, triangle and other unusual timbral combinations e.g. sirens - trademark of Varèse's work

Ionisation - miniature sections each w/ different texture e.g. ominous opening w/ rolling bass drums and gongs, then shuffling passage led by snare drum and bongos - end of piece, gongs slowly fade out

Form identified by changing sonorities e.g. coda marked by piano entry

Ionisation - rhythmically difficult - complex polyrhythms

Ionisation - polyphonic/rhythmic texture shared by 2 or more instruments of opposing timbres - contrasted by relatively short interjections by others

Section 3 - monophonic/rhythmic --> not a single line - all parts converge into one rhythmic idea - most of the ensemble

Ionisation - dynamics clear and specific throughout

Arnold Schönberg - Drei Klavierstücke/Three Piano Pieces - 1st truly atonal piece - completely dispenses 'tonal' means of organisation

3 piano piece no. 1, 2 & 3 - atonal

Piano Piece 1 - slow start but tempo fluctuates - 3/4 changes to 4/4 in middle section

Piano Piece 1 - much use of dotted rhythms - short rhythms and short value rests

Piano Pieces 1 & 2 - clearly marked contrast of dynamics

Piano Piece 2 - chordal based homophonic texture 10-13

Piano Piece 2 - regular change of metre

Piano Piece 2 - ostinato like persistent quaver pulse in many sections

Piano Piece 2 - silences to break up sense of metre

Piano Piece 2 - (melodic) ornamentation e.g. arpeggios and trills

Piano Piece 1 - hands moving clef to clef; pressing keys down silently so strings vibrate --> add to texture

Piano Piece 1 - vague ABA structure; repetition of rhythms & to an extent, short melodic phrases

John Cage - Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano - Sonatas 1&2 - (written after Three Dances)

Sonatas 1&2 - mathematical structure similar to that of Dance No.1 of Three Dances

Sonatas 1&2 - also prepared piano

Sonatas 1&2 - irregular groupings of rhythm sometimes obscure natural pulse

Sonatas 1&2 - displaced stresses - strong beats unclear and makes metre vague

Sonatas 1&2 - no conventional tonality, but repeated patterns emphasise certain pitches

Sonata 1 - some harmonic moments e.g. G7 chords Sonata 2 - occasional suggestions of pentatonicism

Sonatas 1&2 - more recognisable melodic patterns, repeated patterns, arch-shaped melodies, limited pitches

Sonata 1 - Chordal/homorhythmic

Sonata 2 - monophony

Peter Maxwell Davies - Eight Songs for a Mad King Op 39 - 1969 - George III - one of few consolations was cage of bullfinches he taught to sing

Eight Songs - extreme vocal techniques and ranges of voice and instruments - scored or Baritone but of extreme range e.g. end of song 7 reaches top B of TREBLE clef

Webern - Quartet Op 22 - Second Viennese School w/ Berg and Schönberg

Eight Songs - frequent dissonances

Quartet - arguably ternary or possibly sonata form

Quartet - extremely thin texture - often almost monophonic, though, it is fundamentally polyphonic

Quartet - Use of tone row - semitones and tritons, wide angular intervals

Quartet - atonal and serial, freq no harmony but when there are multiple notes playing simultaneously they are mostly dissonant

Quartet - freq time sig and tempo changes; freq rests give fragmentary feel

Quartet - Webern wanted widest range of timbre from small no of players: Violin (String), Clarinet (woodwind), saxophone (properties of woodwind & brass) and piano

Unorthodox grouping for Quartet - wide range of techniques e.g. violin mute, arco, pizz (rapid changes), piano spread chords, wide ranges of pitch and dynamics