Dance No.1- John Cage- 1945
- Created by: Emily.Power
- Created on: 06-03-20 12:05
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- Dance No.1 John Cage 1945
- Structure
- Based on tempo and rhythm rather than phrase length
- Related to the Indian tala
- Each section lasts 30 bars and is organised into a sequence
- 2-5-2, 2-6-2, 2-7-2
- There are 8 sections with the last being repeated making a total of 9
- Tonality
- Little sense of pitch, therefore, there is no sense of tonality
- The score is highly chromatic but much of the impact is lost harmonically speaking due to the changes made to the piano
- Melody
- Due to the prepared nature of the piano much of the quality of pitch is missing from the piece as Cage attempted to move away from Western concepts of melody
- Stockhausen in 1952 wrote Klavierstucke had no sense of melody or tonal centre
- Ostinato is the most important feature
- The opening three note motif
- Some use of note addition and subraction
- Due to the prepared nature of the piano much of the quality of pitch is missing from the piece as Cage attempted to move away from Western concepts of melody
- Rhythm, Meter and Tempo
- Frequent polyrhythms
- Accents to provide emphasis to the off-beats
- Ornamental groups of notes such as septuplets
- Sense of moto perpetuo
- A sense of rhythmic displacement
- Steve Reich in 1972 wrote Clapping music which showcased only this technique
- Texture
- Most of the music has a 4 part texture
- Some other textures used include
- Monophonic
- Two-part
- Three-part
- Occasional silences to provide emphasis on the part to follow
- Schoenberg write Peripetie in 1909 which made use of this
- Harmony
- Little if not any sense of harmony in this work
- Sonority
- Prepared pianos were used as a replacement for a whole percussion group
- Screws, rubbers, coins, bolts and plastic in between the piano strings
- PIano is amplified with microphones
- The sound is reminiscent of the sound created by a a galamlan
- Context
- Leading American experimental composers of the 20th century
- Like Debussy he was influenced by the sound of oriental music
- Rhythmic structures influenced by the Indian Tala
- First perfomred in 1945
- Structure
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