A Different Nature presents: Part III of "The West Coast School- past and present"

Produced by:

KBOO

Program::

Air date:

Mon, 11/16/2015 - 8:00pm to 10:00pm

PART III of The West Coast School, then and now

TONIGHT on A Different Nature-- Part III of The West Coast School from past (alumni Henry Cowell, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, John Adams) to the present ("The New Student Body" -today's west coast innovators)

To quote LA TIMES music critic Mark Swed: "In the late '60s, music students at the University of California here liked to talk about the Cowell effect. That was the curious sonic sensation one experienced on weekends. The sounds of hippie drummers beating away in Sproul Plaza would gradually fade into the distance as one walked up the hill to the music building. They could still be heard outside but not inside. Closing the door would literally close the door to California music.

Henry Cowell, California's first great composer--and, after Charles Ives, America's second--had just died (in 1965). He had invented the whole idea of West Coast music, a music that took delight in the musics of all cultures and was optimistic about new musical possibilities especially concerning percussion.

But the music department at Berkeley was not proud that Cowell had studied there shortly before World War I, and it felt, as did most other American musical institutions at the time, that his influence on the century's music, particularly on experimental composers who studied with him, was regrettable.

The fact that the newly formed Grateful Dead took a strong interest in Cowell's musical experiments only confirmed this."
(the entire story is here: http://articles.latimes.com/1997-02-04/entertainment/ca-25140_1_composer...

That same writer submitted this to the LA Times many years later:

"The 1928 class valedictorian, John Cage graduated with the highest scholastic average at the time in L.A. High's history, and he represented his school in an oratorical contest that spring at the Hollywood Bowl. His winning speech proposed a day of quiet for all Americans. By being hushed and silent, he said, "we should have the opportunity to hear what other people think." Nearly a quarter-century later, Cage would shock the musical world with his composition "4'33." For four minutes and 33 seconds, the performer remains silent, inviting the audience to appreciate sound as an inescapable -- and enjoyable -- aspect of our environment.

Cage entered Pomona College that fall as a theology major, but his interests quickly turned elsewhere. His enthusiasm for the French artist Marcel Duchamp, who became one of Cage's most significant influences, can be traced to José Pijoan, a Portuguese art professor at Pomona. Henry Cowell, the innovative California composer who would later become Cage's first important mentor and champion, gave a recital at Pomona, hitting the keyboard with his fists and elbows and directly plucking the piano's strings (Cowell was the first one to do this, that anyone knows about)."
And that entire article is here: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-john-cage-htm...

ABOUT TONIGHT'S PERFORMER :

Doug Theriault is a long time Portland based performer, composer and instrument inventor. His work has been presented all over the United States, Europe and Canada with a wide variety of musicians, choreographers, dancers and visual artists from around the world. He has scored original music for independent films, theatre, plays, dance and sound installations. Doug is mostly known for his highly idiosyncratic guitar work. He investigates the reciprocal contamination of creative means and sensibilities. He uses varied organic and electronic sound instrumentation, light gradients (sensors), space and performative movement in coordination with intuitive notation systems.

http://dougtheriault.org/