A short word or two about the notion of “conceptual music”. There is no need to perform conceptual music. Being a concept, it can very simply remain within the imaginings of the individuals mind; which is the stage of its performance. Of course if one wants to acualize it, a performer must take full responsibility for any of the results that might occur.
7/23/12:
Piece One:
Using the form of Terry Riley’s “In C”, instead take fragments of Beethoven’s music, in any key and follow the process as outlined by Riley. Beethoven’s music should be from various works, and not a single work. Phrase length should be equivalent to the length of the cells in “In C”.
1/05/13
Piece Two:
The notion of “animal rights” is the embodiment an obviously ludicrous concept except to the patently insane. The human right to play music and transferred to the rights of all animals is presented in this absurd piece, in this way we give equal rights to the beasts. We shall begin with a small orchestra of Mozart dimension and a human conductor. Begin by performing Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, and the following action should not be announced to the audience. After the first movement, the second movement begins. Shortly into the second movement begin substituting the human performers one by one with some animal or insect as each human leaves the stage. Do this as quickly as possible. When all human performers have been replaced with beasts, all that is left is the human conductor. The conductor should be the last replaced by a very happy barking dog wagging its tail. In this small way the animals in the orchestra have been give their first amendment right, and should dutifully be presented with their Union membership card in the Musicians Union. Be sure to pay them properly.