DramaLit Blog 1.0: BU School of Theatre

So remember Cage and 4’33” and all the talking we did about that last year? And in Art History, if anyone’s taken some for any reason, that covers recent-ish stuff? Or just plain History; I think we talked about it in high school. Anyway, I’m on board mostly. I think it’s an interesting, paradigm-shifting idea, and I like examining my relationship with silence… blah, blah.

Did you know he also has a piece that will run for 639 years? Apparently it started in 2001, and you have to wait months for a chord change. Whaaaaat.

Fans of Cage, such as board chairman of the town’s John Cage Organ Foundation, Rainer Neugebauer, say that the performance is a rebuke of hectic modern life.

“Everything does not need to happen so fast. If something needs a bit longer then it can give us an inner calm that is rare in normal life.”

Okay…

Update, Nov. 28: There is competition for the world’s longest concert. On Twitter, Mark Polishook alerts Arts Post to Longplayer, a 1,000-year-long musical score that is being played by computers.

You have to admit, it’s a little funny. I also find it fascinating in terms of – church organ vs. computer, and generally how we’re in a place where besides thinking of this stuff we can automate it…mechanically and electronically! When I read the title of the initial article about a 639-year concert, I was imagining that Cage thought he was going to live that long and had committed to playing something constantly, or there were multiple artists playing in shifts, and I was like, “Uh, buddy…” but no. It’s more like installation art, I guess, or a very long-lived exhibit, like the Gutenberg Bible. Can we still use the word “concert”?

Unrelatedly, but VERY interestingly…

Click here for an image I didn’t want to post as “theatre news” exactly but found super-helpful in light of all the talking we’re doing about relative amounts of money. Information presented accessibly – for me, at least – so I thought other people might enjoy it as well. Definitely click through to the “huge” version and look closely!