INDETERMINATE-ORIENTED TO RATIONAL-ORIENTED: JOHN CAGE, PAPER IMPERFECTIONS, AND GRAPHIC NOTATIONS

Chia-Ling  Peng

doi:10.5937/newso2260062P

Chia-Ling Peng PhD candidate, Newcastle University in United Kingdom, The School of Arts and Cultures, The International Centre for Music Studies

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5937/newso2260062P

Keywords: John Cage, indeterminacy, Solo for Piano, rational features, rationalization

Abstract

Around 1904, the sociologist Max Weber observed the lifestyle of Protestants and proposed a theory of rationality focusing on the relationship between individuals’ actions and their choices, value standards, and purposes. He then extended this theory to music, positing that the rational features of music are structural, systematic, intentional, functional, and interactive. However, these reasonable features appeared unreasonable when music entered its avant-garde phase—when music became unpredictable, chaotic, and open. Does this mean that avant-garde music was no longer rational? To unpack this question, this paper applies the theory of rationality to John Cage’s Solo for Piano (1957–58) and delves into the compositional process to present rational features within indeterminacy. In the compositional process, Cage employed the graphic compositional system, including a drawing process and a means of translation. With this system, we may discover the process of rationalization, meaning that when chance-oriented material gradually transforms into the value-/purposive-oriented material—from paper imperfections to points, from points to notes—it presents a rationalization of the compositional material. In short, this paper applies the theory of rationality to Solo for Piano to discover its rational features and dissects the transformation of the compositional material to present rationalization.

Author Biography

Chia-Ling Peng, PhD candidate, Newcastle University in United Kingdom, The School of Arts and Cultures, The International Centre for Music Studies

Chia-Ling Peng is a music PhD candidate at Newcastle University. Her pivotal focus throughout her master’s degree is on the role played by Max Weber in the sociology of music and on his theory of rationality. She is currently investigating how rationality may be used to analyse graphic notation and indeterminate music, and revising theory of rationality. Along with this investigation, she is now attempting to extend her research to digital humanities. During her study, she presents paper nationally – 2022 BFE/RMA Research Students’ Conference, New Mimesis: simulations, models, metaphors and data in music, Rhythm Symposium Conference, Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicology: Participation, and Twelfth Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900, etc., and internationally – Experimentation and beyond in Music Research Forum (Portugal), The International Music Forum (Italy), and 14th Biennial International Conference on Music Theory and Analysis (Serbia), and the forthcoming conference Digital Humanities BUDAPEST 2022 (Hungary).