come on feel the noise
Last night was our first rehearsal for Ocean. It was...interesting. I'll try and explain it in a bit, but first here is an article about it:
Exploring 'Ocean' Depths
A large-scale Merce Cunningham dance will get its biggest production in a rock quarry near St. Cloud.
By CAMILLE LEFEVRE, Special to the Star Tribune
The monumental dance piece "Ocean" arose nearly 20 years ago out of a heady talk that included some heavy hitters of 20th-century art and letters. In 1990, composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham (life partners and artistic collaborators since 1944) were discussing mythologist Joseph Campbell's comment that, had Irish writer James Joyce followed "Finnegans Wake" with another novel, its subject would have been the sea.
Cage quickly named the piece and decided on its length -- 90 minutes. In true Cage fashion, he began composing a loose score made up not of standard notes and measures, but rather simple notations to be performed as musicians saw fit within specific periods of time. He also imagined what his dream staging might look like.
"It was Cage's idea that the dance be presented in the center of a circular space with the audience surrounding the dancers and the musicians further surrounding the audience so that the sound would wash over the space from all sides," Cunningham said via e-mail.
The choreographer, 89, has been busy rehearsing his company for next weekend's sold-out performance of "Ocean," at the bottom of Rainbow Quarry in Waite Park, 70 minutes northwest of the Twin Cities. "We don't know how the Rainbow Quarry will sound, but we are looking forward to finding out," he added.
Originally set to premiere in 1991, the project was shelved when Cage died in 1992. Since its 1994 premiere in Brussels, however, "Ocean" has been performed several times on proscenium and circular stages. But no prior staging will compare to this weekend's dramatic performance.
"Ocean" in Rainbow Quarry "is the biggest, most complex version we have ever done," Cunningham said.
Now, let's see if I can explain the music a little. I'd post pics of what the music looks like but it would probably violate all kinds of copyright laws.
There are 95 little pieces within the whole thing. I start out with no. 2; other people play 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 at the same time. Then there is a performance note that tells you how to play each piece. So I play Ocean 2 with performance note 1; other people might be playing Ocean 6 with performance note 3 or something. Then my part skips to Ocean 8, and so on. Make sense so far? not really, right? OK, then above each note or phrase you have time brackets that tell you how long you can play each note. The first note in my part is 0:00:00<-->0:00:30 and 0:00:20<-->0:00:50 over a low E whole note. This means I start playing that note between 0 and 30 seconds, and end it between 20 and 50 seconds on the clock, and then go on to the next one. You can play each note as long or short as you want (hence the overlap in time). You don't have to do it the same way each time either. So basically it's like we're improvising the whole thing. But there is a method to it.
It made sense when he was explaining it last night, but it's a lot to wrap your head around. My first reaction to seeing the music was "whut?" The whole thing goes up to 1:30:00; we have clocks that we have to watch to keep track of the time. Last night we played through 20 minutes. It was pretty cool, but probably the best word to describe it is 'noise'. XD The weird thing is, it seems to go about three times faster as you're actually playing it and watching the clock and everything. :/ I think 90 minutes is a bit excessive, but it will go fast, and I'm getting paid a lot for it.
Today I need to sit down and figure out how I'm going to do parts of it before rehearsal tonight. It's definitely going to be interesting!
Exploring 'Ocean' Depths
A large-scale Merce Cunningham dance will get its biggest production in a rock quarry near St. Cloud.
By CAMILLE LEFEVRE, Special to the Star Tribune
The monumental dance piece "Ocean" arose nearly 20 years ago out of a heady talk that included some heavy hitters of 20th-century art and letters. In 1990, composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham (life partners and artistic collaborators since 1944) were discussing mythologist Joseph Campbell's comment that, had Irish writer James Joyce followed "Finnegans Wake" with another novel, its subject would have been the sea.
Cage quickly named the piece and decided on its length -- 90 minutes. In true Cage fashion, he began composing a loose score made up not of standard notes and measures, but rather simple notations to be performed as musicians saw fit within specific periods of time. He also imagined what his dream staging might look like.
"It was Cage's idea that the dance be presented in the center of a circular space with the audience surrounding the dancers and the musicians further surrounding the audience so that the sound would wash over the space from all sides," Cunningham said via e-mail.
The choreographer, 89, has been busy rehearsing his company for next weekend's sold-out performance of "Ocean," at the bottom of Rainbow Quarry in Waite Park, 70 minutes northwest of the Twin Cities. "We don't know how the Rainbow Quarry will sound, but we are looking forward to finding out," he added.
Originally set to premiere in 1991, the project was shelved when Cage died in 1992. Since its 1994 premiere in Brussels, however, "Ocean" has been performed several times on proscenium and circular stages. But no prior staging will compare to this weekend's dramatic performance.
"Ocean" in Rainbow Quarry "is the biggest, most complex version we have ever done," Cunningham said.
Now, let's see if I can explain the music a little. I'd post pics of what the music looks like but it would probably violate all kinds of copyright laws.
There are 95 little pieces within the whole thing. I start out with no. 2; other people play 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 at the same time. Then there is a performance note that tells you how to play each piece. So I play Ocean 2 with performance note 1; other people might be playing Ocean 6 with performance note 3 or something. Then my part skips to Ocean 8, and so on. Make sense so far? not really, right? OK, then above each note or phrase you have time brackets that tell you how long you can play each note. The first note in my part is 0:00:00<-->0:00:30 and 0:00:20<-->0:00:50 over a low E whole note. This means I start playing that note between 0 and 30 seconds, and end it between 20 and 50 seconds on the clock, and then go on to the next one. You can play each note as long or short as you want (hence the overlap in time). You don't have to do it the same way each time either. So basically it's like we're improvising the whole thing. But there is a method to it.
It made sense when he was explaining it last night, but it's a lot to wrap your head around. My first reaction to seeing the music was "whut?" The whole thing goes up to 1:30:00; we have clocks that we have to watch to keep track of the time. Last night we played through 20 minutes. It was pretty cool, but probably the best word to describe it is 'noise'. XD The weird thing is, it seems to go about three times faster as you're actually playing it and watching the clock and everything. :/ I think 90 minutes is a bit excessive, but it will go fast, and I'm getting paid a lot for it.
Today I need to sit down and figure out how I'm going to do parts of it before rehearsal tonight. It's definitely going to be interesting!