Monica Tinyo ’13 reminds you that you can learn about some rad experimental music here at Wes as part of this conference on notation:
Michael Parsons has been active since the 1960s as a composer, performer and writer on new music. He belongs to a generation of English musicians who have explored a range of radical alternatives to mainstream tendencies. In the 1960s he became interested in the work of John Cage and David Tudor and other composers of the New York school. In London in 1969 he was co-founder of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental collective of musicians, artists, performers and improvisers from diverse backgrounds. Informed by ideas arising from Fluxus, the work of Cage and other experimentalists, they developed an open-ended approach to sound and performance, challenging traditional boundaries and definitions of music.
Michael Parsons will talk about his experience of the Scratch Orchestra, its social context and evolution, and how it has influenced his subsequent work. He will introduce a participatory performance of his Walking Piece, a spatial event originally composed for the Scratch Orchestra in 1969.
Date: Tomorrow, April 3rd
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: MS301
Cost: Free!