Composers on Mathematical Music
Subtext 9184738


                                       I    derived         the   method          I  use
for writing   music   by tossing  coins     from  the  method     used    in    the
Book of Changes       for obtaining         oracles.         The  method     itself
is           fairly   complicated     to    describe          and I    shall  not  do
that      now.        If      you     are   interested     you    can       read
a detailed        des-cription of it   that will appear     in    the     forthcoming
issue           of    Trans/formations      .  Suffice   it   to  say           that
tables        are     arranged           re-ferring        to     tempi,  the  number
of superimpositions   , that is to say,     number of things      that can go  on  at
once,        sounds   and silences,         durations,            loudnesses and accents.
At a given instant    half    of    the     tables      are       mobile       and
half of them          immobile.             Mobile means:         if that            ele-
ment        is        tossed, it acts,      but disappears        .

John Cage



Composers on Mathematical Music: A Subtext Poem

Other Work by John Greschak

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