RE: How to make silence the most awesome music? Ask Mr. Cage!
I love that I prompted a post! :D Cage is a fantastic example to use for this concept - his stuff is definitely some of the most unique of his era imo. I actually didn't know that he was so influenced by I-Ching!
the power of a specific sound is still dependent on player's performance. The instrument he's playing also determines a lot of things. The same for the room itself, the acoustics and background noise from the audience. We can even talk about the "unmeasurable" and say the "quality" of public's attention can make an explicable ambience that can affect the player.
Yes! This is why multiple recordings of the same piece can be so interesting to listen to. I have favourite recordings for example of one piece that I have might have 3 different versions of. There are so many factors that shape the sound - it's nearly impossible to recreate anything exactly. I love that fact.
Yes, Cage was deeply involved with the non-existence of indeterminism in improvisation, among other interests of his...
About recordings, I agree 100%! I also think a lot about how recordings actually shape our ears and constantly influence our "raw" natural performances. Listening to many versions of Kodaly Cello Sonata will definitely influence your own interpretation, because "I like this phrasing", "I like this power", "I like this rubato". That will gradually prevail over your own ideas, your own sound and rhythm.
But then, what's best? Your own "natural" ideias (which are never only dependent on you anyway) or the ones who come from your hearing/life experience (making you a copy cat)? How much balance there should be on that? How strong should be your ideas to stand up for their own?
The same happens for any kind of art, I guess. A photographer friend of mine once told me "even if you have no experience, if you go out two weekends in a row with a camera in your hands, you'll develop your style". But making that raw "style" prevail after years or shooting and seeing and criticizing and life experience in general... That's also a point worth considering.
Thank you @derosnec for so much you've helped me thinking :)
Honestly I think humans are shaped by influences - but because there are so many variables, it's impossible to ever really "copy". Especially with music! You could love someone's phrasing at a performance that you heard or on a particular recording, and you can practice it until the cows come home to match it, but when you perform it it's still at the whim of of hand/voice/etc which is uniquely yours and will ultimately do what it does. Plus I believe that "copying" is in of itself an art form - it takes considerable skill and practice to do that! But it's a launching point - because you'll take what you learned from copying one person and end up having some of that influence seep in when you're trying to copy someone else.
Not that I'm promoting plagiarism, but honestly copying styles is an important part of learning - especially in visual art and music. As long as you're acknowledging where you learned your skills... ;)
Sure, it's impossible to copy, as much as it's impossible to be 100% "genuine". It's the inevitable balance between both arts that makes the artist a performer, a creator, an impersonator or just a good learner...
indeed!