Re: Help with quote re I–VI

Rob Haskins <[email protected]> Mon, 13 Feb 2017 14:08:18 -0500
Newsgroups gmane.music.john-cage
Message-ID <CAHiZ-4kWZcpzec-aA0kB-XA7+6bW5J45m0okA3a86hxh8C6Ohw@mail.gmail.com>
Thanks, Louis.

After going carefully through I–VI twice, I've determined the quote isn’t
there. I think either my author is misremembering when (and where) Cage
said it, or that it was said during the time of the Harvard lectures but
not included in the published book. The closest thing is: "I think that in
these lectures[,] more than in any other that i've done[,] that syntax has
met with a challenge of some kind[.] It appears from these lectures this is
a way of writing which comes from ideas but is not about them but somehow
brings them[,] new ideas or other ideas[,] into existence" (337–38). Of
course, p. 2 contains the classic phrase "to explore a way of writing which
though coming from ideas is not about them, or is not about ideas but
produces them.”

Since the words "colliding" and "butting up against" are important for the
point the author's trying to make in the rest of his paragraph, some
rewriting will have to be done, and I'm not sure if the "brushing
information with information" is the way he will want to go. We'll see . . .

Thanks again!

On Mon, Feb 13, 2017 at 2:03 PM, Louis Coppersmith <
[email protected]> wrote:

> I can't seem to find your quote, but Cage did describe his non-syntactical
> writings with phrase borrowed from Marshall McLuhan, "brushing information
> against information."   Check out MUSICAGE around page 51.  (maybe
> "brushing"="butting"?)
>
> There are also some similar musings along the bottom of pp. 14-18 of
> *I-VI*, but it's not the exact quote you're after.  Let me know if you
> find it!
>
>
>
> Louis
>
> On Mon, Feb 13, 2017 at 8:55 AM, Rob Haskins <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone, I'm trying to track down a quote, possibly from I–VI. (I’ve
>> checked once and can’t find it; I’m about to check again.)
>>
>> “I used these lectures as a way of seeking out ideas—by the fact these
>> syntactical phrases are colliding with each other, butting up against each
>> other they’re giving birth to new ideas.”
>>
>> Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.
>>
>> Best,
>> Rob
>> --
>> Rob Haskins, D.M.A., Ph.D.
>> Professor of Music
>> College of Liberal Arts
>> University of New Hampshire
>> M-105, Paul Creative Arts Center
>> 30 Academic Way
>> Durham, NH 03824
>> 603-862-3987 <(603)%20862-3987> (office)
>> 603-862-3155 <(603)%20862-3155> (fax)
>> <http://unh.edu/music/>
>> <http://robhaskins.net>
>>
>
>


-- 
Rob Haskins, D.M.A., Ph.D.
Professor of Music
College of Liberal Arts
University of New Hampshire
M-105, Paul Creative Arts Center
30 Academic Way
Durham, NH 03824
603-862-3987 (office)
603-862-3155 (fax)
<http://unh.edu/music/>
<http://robhaskins.net>