John Cage

John Cage is a huge figure in the world of music and art and the combination of the two. He is best known for his 4'33". A piece of music in which during the whole 4 minutes and 33 seconds of 3 movements not a single note is played, yet a full orchestra and conductor is present. This was "unheard" of in 1952, when it was written. It delves into ideas of how sound is perceived and that the environment, the room and the people within it are all a part of the music. This got me thinking about whether absolute silence can ever be acheived. I came to the realisation that even in the deepest most silent part of the world as a living thing we constantly make sound through our heartbeats and breathing. This is how I came to looking at life and the universe.

Contextual

I've been looking at musicians as a whole. I remembered watching a Terry Bozzio video where he made a huge drum kit that was more of a melodic instrument rather than percussive. All the way through the piece was a heartbeat which I thought made him relevant. Also Terry looks at music, particularly drums in a completely different way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZIoor6guPI&feature=related

Terry is best known for his work with Frank Zappa, famously producing "The Black Page". A piece of music said to be a musician's nightmare because of the frightening amount of notes. When put into notation, the page appears black.

Liverpool.

I really enjoyed the trip. 52 Renshaw Street was my favourite. There were trippy videos in the basement that had me mesmerized for about half an hour. Crazy stuff about American youth. Messed with my head. I couldn't find a plaque anywhere that said who the artist was though. Unlucky. Crosby Beach was nice too. I wanted to see the Gormley Statues for a while now. Finally saw them.

Cont'd

Group activities! "The thing I hate most"-themed party. We decided to have The Pope as the thing we hated most even though it wasn't true in most people. The altar/ shrine we built was apparently originally too offensive (we had a complaint from a fellow student) so we had to change it slightly. I thought it was actually justified as the icons that had to be removed were about money and the gross riches that The Pope is used to and the fact he had just visited Britain which cost the country millions. Even so they had to be taken down and reassure people that weren't trying to cause any trouble. Once we handed out the wine it was all good. The party itself was fun, it was nice to interact with other people on the course. The thing that interested me most was talking to second years. They were talking about how they thought uni was easier to get into this year rather than last. In most cases this course was their second choice. It made me look at the course in a different way, not that I was having any doubts. Still it was interesting to see what they had to say, especially as this was my first choice.
Having to make a sweded version of Avatar was significantly more challenging than hosting. We were put into different groups as well which gave us a chance to get to know more of the group. The filming of it was hilarious. I had a lot of fun but not much hopes for the quality of the actual film. This was until I saw the editing done by Beth, one of the people in my group. I was very impressed. We also viewed all the others. It's nice to see what can be done witth such short notice and with limited resources. Very cool.
Lectures are...strange. I'm sure there's a point and it's impressive to have someone with so much knowledge talking to you but I'm not entirely convinced they are going to help me. I'm sure I'm wrong but either way I'll walk in with an open mind.

The Year Begins.

The first week of uni was enlightening/exciting. The inductions showed off the facilities very well particularly the Mac suite, which I am looking forward to useing. We had the task set to find 5 things in the city: A specialist shop; a good place to eat; A museum or gallery; a "surprise" and a Manchester find. I know the city quite well anyway but I thought that this was a good way to open our eyes a little more as we were actively searching for specific things. I really enjoyed the trip to the Imperial War Museum on friday. I thought the building itself was beautiful although it was a grim day and Fresher's flu kicked in fully that day. The museum experience was different to any other as well by having interviews of war survivors projected onto the walls. Very interesting. Also we got together in groups to present our findings from the day before. Nice way to interact with some people. Very active week coupled with all the Fresher's week celebrations.