[Dixielandjazz] Free form music and sounds

[John Knurr]

When I was in grad school at Sacramento State we had a class called New Music Lab where we did performances of and listened to sometimes strange music(?) and sounds. We had a text book showing what they called "reality" performances - some we could do and others not. For instance one was of a man who used a machine gun to shoot into large music staffs located hundreds of feet away. When the staffs were gathered together the musicians were to play the notes where the bullets hit. We did perform "elevator music" where the musicians were stationed on various floors of the music building and playing at random anything they wished. The audience was in the elevator going from floor to floor as they pushed the buttons - it made for an interesting and eerie soundscape for sure. But the most interesting aspect of these performances was called "Plan For Spacecraft" by, I believe, Frederick Rszewski(sp - were talking 1970's here) It involved grouping any number of
 musicians and instruments together and without direction anyone could start playing - and as each instrument entered the sound became thicker and of course more rhythmic. (we could also use any sounds such as strumming the strings on the piano or any other sound maker we could find - and we were inventive for sure) The whole point of this was (and we did this several times with various players) there was, no matter how long it went, someone would emerge as the pace setter of theme or leader of rhythms and intensity and the sounds and music would take on a life of its own. And - and this is the key, every time we did it and listened to the recording we did, the whole event had a beginning, a building toward the middle, a climax emotionally around the 3 quarter point and then it would slowly die away to silence with the last notes played by the "leader". This reinforces the mathematical studies done by music scholars (in researching classical masterworks)
 that there is a psychological and real "high" point in music around the 3 quarter point in most pieces. I have kept all this in mind when listening to avant garde jazz performances and especially in free form styles where this seems to hold true. Does any of this strike a "chord" (lol) with any of you?  Also at the end of the semester the class had to do a public recital and it was really amazing. Two guys who worked for the Southern Pacific  Railroad used 4 reel to reel tape recorders and combined their sounds with a visual collage projected on a screen that was truly hard to describe. I talked Fred Weber (band director at Folsom High) into doing the "Atonal Rag" with me which was based on Maple Leaf rhythmically. We read the "music" off of real rags we put on the stands. I played the whole thing but never played any notes of the piece - It was like Maple Leaf on acid done by Laurel and Hardy. Oh - and I made Fred play drums with me but made him put
 the drum set upside down so he had to play "up" instead of normal "down" - was fun for me - hard for him. Thanks for reading. John Knurr (former band director at Encina High - Sacramento - early member of STJS - currently leader of The New South Rampart St Paraders in Milwaukee - see us on Facebook)