Customer Reviews

Scratch Music

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This nifty little book was actually edited by Cornelius Cardew. Cardew was a founding member of the Scratch Orchestra, a motely collection of musicians,non-professional instrumetalists,conceptual artists,writers,sheep farmers,philosphers,composers,improvisors,and those who fall somewhere usefully between/amongst all of the above. This was a time of the high libertarian avant-garde where conceptual excesses, performance art, happenings, improvised music and graphic notation was all well within the order,the excitement of the day. What you will find here are compositions, activities,graphics,idiosyncratic descriptions of activities,hearts,spirals,what looks like star maps and actually a classic Scratch work "1001 Activities" as well as the Scratch Draft Constitution from May 1969. What is Scratch Music? and who creates it? a textbook definition would be, it is halfway between composing and improvising, no artistic buttress should be placed between a human being and art,in other words, and at that time this was an incredibly usefull way to learn,to educate and to make music. The result lead many artists to find themselves and their work. And if you talk to any Scratchers,most will say they got more out than they put in. This was again the necessary credo of the day. Those who create Scratch music must affirm between themselves what should take place however not a strict narrative, a note-for-note scenario is not necessary, merely a brief sketch will do,verbal or written, much like this modest but exciting book. Where might one encounter Scratch music? Well around the early Seventies if you happen to be riding the London Subway System (The Tube) you might encounter some arrangements of Irish Songs at The Victoria train station or near the tracks of The Elephant & The Castle Tube stop, Trafalgar Square, or Leeds College or opposite a museum. Of the "1001 Activities" some you might try if you haven't already is #285 Groan, or #314 Sing a Lullaby or #451 Sink into oblivion,or #548 Drop a clanger. The Scratch credo didn't emigrate usefully, here in The United States there really was no equivalent except the FLuxus and they had a primary exclusive focus in New York City and never became political as a left of the Scratch became.Fluxus was more visually oriented,more toward purified performance art, and music was a by-product of their art. Whereas Scratch always promoted the public sphere with more social perspective.giving concerts, and playing at benefits and at worker meetings or student "duus". Fluxus and other like-minded groups in Europe, like those surrounding conceptual artist Joseph Beuys never developed an activist social sense, and theri primary field was the more upscale confines of a gallery or some similar art institution,even they they may have felt they did. Scratch by contrast is still alive today although on a reduced scale and energy levels given the aging population of its cadre.Scratch however has made a primary document to be remembered has recorded the one monolith work written,tailored for it "The Great Learning" by the late Cornelius Cardew. This is a seminal,innovative work of the avant-garde, and is a modest 9 Hour duration,With organ and stones and many human voices and whatever instruments happen to be around. The text is based on the "Analects" of Confucius, divided into paragraphs, and is available(the recording that is) from the British Counsel in London,or they can point you in the right direction in order to obtain it.

The guy responded at lightning speed to any email I sent. Sent it out the next minute and got it incredibly quick.

It would be great if he had every book I needed.