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. . . The Music of Changes
is . . . written
in 2/2 or 4/4. The space is observed, so that fractions of notes that are
irrational can be placed in it by measuring them. Then I can go, for instance,
from a note that’s two fifths of a quarter to a note
that’s one third of
a half, and so on, and measure each single fragment. In this case, because
you’re measuring, you need not add up to whole units; you can come out
completely uneven.
. . . I was still using quarter notes and half notes, and half notes with fractions above them, very peculiar. Later, due to David Tudor’s studying a form of mathematics, to take the trouble out of my notation and doing it successfully, I dropped all notion of meter and went directly into plain space equals time, which has enormously facilitated the writing of new music.
John Cage
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