Water Walking and Bicycle Blowing (part 1)

Andre, , , ,

Most of you are probably already familiar with the following videos:

(The remainder of Zappa’s performance can be found here.) These videos have made the rounds numerous times over the years, but I don’t know if anyone’s ever looked into any possible connections between Cage and Zappa. To me, these two performances and their respective contexts are too similar to be coincidental. I think it’s very likely that Zappa saw Cage’s appearance on television and modeled his own performance on it. Even if there isn’t such a direct connection between the two videos, I think it’s more than likely that Zappa at least had some of Cage’s theory in mind.

I think there’s a lot to say here, so I’ll limit my discussion here to a little background info on the two videos. I’ll follow up in a second post with a brief analysis of Zappa’s discourse regarding Cage.

The first video shows John Cage in his February 24, 1960 appearance on the CBS game show I’ve Got a Secret. Typically, the show features contestants with unusual, amazing, embarrassing, or otherwise humorous secret. A panel tries to guess their secret using only yes/no questions. The host, Garry Moore, considered Cage’s secret–

I’m going to perform one of my musical compositions … The ‘instruments’ I will use are: a water pitcher, an iron pipe, a goose call, a bottle of wine, an electric mixer, a whistle, a sprinkling can, ice cubes, 2 cymbals, a mechanical fish, a quail call, a rubber duck, a tape recorder, a vase of roses, a seltzer siphon, 5 radios, a bathtub, and a grand piano.

–to be intriguing enough to forgo the game in hopes of allowing time for the entire piece to be performed (with the further hope of a Q&A afterwards).

water walk 1

Floorplan for Cage’s Water Walk [1]

The piece Cage performed, Water Walk, was an adaption of his earlier piece Water Music (1952) which is generally thought of as the first of Cage’s so-called “theater pieces.” Cage originally adapted the piece for a performance on a different game show, the Italian program Lascia o Raddoppia (loosely translated: “double or nothing”) in January of 1959.

cage_Buongiorno

John Cage on Lascia o Raddoppia with host Mike Buongiorno

On Lascia o Raddoppia, contestants answered questions on a topic of their choice. If they were successful, they were invited back the following week to answer harder questions for progressively larger winnings. A contestant who made it through all five weeks stood to win five million lire (approximately eight thousand dollars). Cage, an accomplished mycologist, answered questions about mushrooms with the aid of an interpreter. Cage made it through all five weeks and bought a new piano with his winnings upon returning home. More significantly, Cage was also invited to perform one of his compositions each week of show. Water Walk adapted the earlier Water Music to be more appropriate to the televised medium.

water walk 2

Detail of the score for Water Walk [2]

Compared to Water Music, Water Walk is much simpler. Cage’s specifications for the timing of various events are much less specific. More significantly, however, Cage seems to have introduced a greater degree of humor to the second piece, pandering to the lighthearted nature of television and its audiences. I think the added humor was something that would surely have appealed to Zappa.

(The only other performance of Water Walk by Cage was done on The Henry Morgan Show in June of 1959.)

In the other video, we see Zappa performing on The Steve Allen Show three years later. Zappa’s piece, a “concerto for two bicycles, a pre-recorded tape and the musicians in the back” is much more improvised. As Zappa points out in the pre-performance interview, he hadn’t been playing the bike very long.

Jerry Hopkins, the show’s talent coordinator recalls how Zappa landed the gig:

The rules for my job were simple. Get someone who was genuinely eccentric or who did something at least a little strange or out-of-the-ordinary, but never make fun of them—the idea was to have fun with them. And, no fakes, no frauds, no bogus acts looking for exposure and willing to do anything to get it, no put-ons or send-ups, no cons. Because, Steve assured me, they never, ever worked, and they embarrassed everyone.

Only once did I ignore his advice and that was when I got a call from a young man who identified himself as Frank Zappa. He said he wanted to teach Steve how to “blow bicycle.” “Blow bicycle,” I repeated.

“Yeah, you know, like, the bicycle is a musical instrument.”

(You can read the rest of Hopkins’ account here.)

Zappa’s performance even got a write up in a local Cucamonga newspaper:

“Ontario Composer, Steve Allen To Play Wacky Duet”

Frank Zappa, 22, Ontario resident and composer of music, serious and otherwise, will be seen on television tomorrow night playing a bicycle concerto for two with Steve Allen. The show is at 11 p.m., Channel 5. “It’s very funny,” said Zappa. “You play a bicycle by plucking the spokes and blowing through the handle bars.” Other methods of producing “cyclophony” is to stroke the spokes with the bow of a bass fiddle, twirl the pedals and let air out of the tires. The Zappa-Allen concerto will be abetted by a man in the control room fooling around with a tape recorder and by a jazz group which will supply toneless background noise. Zappa studied music and art at Chaffey College. He wrote the score for “The World’s Greatest Sinner,” a low-budget tale about a sacrilegious imposter who repents. “Sinner” had its premiere at Vista-Continental Theater, Hollywood, and opened Wednesday at the Ken Theater, San Diego. Zappa writes musical commercials for TV and radio. They are recorded at Pal Studio, Cucamonga. [3]

These videos both provide neat examples of how the frequently-opposed worlds of art and pop occasionally intersect. A lot of the responsibility for these meetings can be placed on television. I haven’t quite worked this out completely yet, but it seems that for Zappa, the added visual dimension of televised performance goes hand in hand with what he thought about Cage.

In both of these videos, what interests me is the awkward mix of polite respect and anxious laughter on the parts of the hosts and the audiences of each show. I think that these two videos give us an intimate glance a very specific moment in the history of avant-garde music. Audiences (and television programmers) were still receptive to experimental ideas, which themselves hadn’t yet been relegated to exclusive academic circles.

From my perspective, nearly fifty years later, it’s remarkable how adventurous television programming was in the middle of the twentieth century. It’s easy to complain about the lack of this sort of programming nowadays, but I think these examples might give us a better understanding of the current situation.

References:
[1] Taken from William Fetterman, John Cage’s Theatre Pieces: Notations and Performances (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1996), 33.
[2] Ibid., 35.
[3] As of yet, I have not been able to find an accurate citation for this article. Based on the details it came from a Cucamonga, CA newspaper and can be dated to March 13, 1963. A transcription of the text can be found here.
Water Walking and Bicycle Blowing (part 1)

84,938 thoughts on “Water Walking and Bicycle Blowing (part 1)”

  7. jets look to veterans to fill scheifeles absence

    na prodej p谩nsk茅 boty nike craft mars yard ts nasa 2.0 kpueko fusak na spanie 3d m盲ta10000 czk zl铆n rychl谩 p暖j膷ka zl铆n pen铆ze p艡铆mo naboty nike air max 2016 p谩nsk茅 d谩msk茅 膷ern谩 modr媒

  8. cistenie zlate nausnice 40

    pendientes de plata con cuarzo blanco ippolitareparar conector jack xiaomi mi max 2german tech funda para tablet ipad pro 9.7. tipo libro giratoryumqua funda para lg stylo 3 stylus 3 caso shock h铆brido resistente impacto protector para lg tel茅fono ls77…

  11. 驻专讜讙讬 讘讬讚讜专 诪讛 注讜砖讬诐 讻讜讻讘讬 注专讜抓 讛住驻讜专讟 诇讙诪专 诇讬讙转 讛讗诇讜驻讜转

    office ladies pencil mini skirtnikecourt air zoom zero hard court tennis shoe womenslittle girls white lace glitter stone belt special occasion skater dresspronto uomo brown socks

  14. sac de voyage sans roulettes arizona

    jual casing hp huawei p30 p20 p9 pro custom hype beast brandshop applicable huawei m5 flat 10.8 inch protective covermotorola dlr1060 2 way digital business radiohuawei honor 7c defender series covers furious3d black premium look case

  15. getwisernow

    adizero f50 trx fg blanco air jordan cp3 ix orange gul karston soldes nike lebron soldier 10 gris island free flyknit 4.0 gr眉n umbrella kyrie 1 grau trainers

  19. v tac set led traka smd5050 rgb 5m

    琛楅牠鏁欎富 2018鎬ф劅姘存櫠閫忔槑楂樿窡娑奸瀷 35 39鐝捐波 闋搁爡閸?925绱旈妧 閺ょ┖鏇茬窔鍒昏姳鍦撳瀷榛戣牊绻╃磾閵€闋搁崐 娉㈣タ绫充簽棰ㄧ磾閵€鎵ｇ磾閵€灏鹃崐璨奸牳閸?闄勭Ξ鐩掗妧甯?闆欓潰濂崇帇鍤撮伕椁?/a>杩愬姩鐭￥鐢?杩愬姩鐭￥鐢锋帹鑽?鑻忓畞鏄撹喘姝ｉ煋 缇界胆澶栧 rakuma

  22. pin on womens fashion 讗讜驻谞转 谞砖讬诐

    twotwinstyle 讛讜诇讜 诪转讜讱 砖诪诇转 谞拽讘讛 o 爪讜讜讗专 转讞专讛 注讚 讗专讜讱 砖专讜讜诇1981 讛讜诇讚转讛 砖诇 谞讜住讞讛 讛诪讚专讬讱 诇讗讬专讜讜讬讝讬讜谉ozuko 讞讚砖 讙讘专讬诐 转专诪讬诇 讙讚讜诇 注诪讬讚 诇诪讬诐 转讻诇讬转讬 usb 讟注讬谞讛 诪注爪讘诪讗诇讛 砖专砖专转 讗专讜讻讛 砖专砖专转 讗讘谞讬诐 讟讘注讬讜转 砖专砖专讗讜转 砖专砖专转

  24. branded handbags

    huawei p30 p20 mate 20 pro nova 2i 3i 3e 4 4e 2 honor 10 lite y9 casekenner iphone 8 cases fine art americaxiaomi redmi note 7 case spigen iron man transformer untuk redmi note 7 armor case redmi note 7 multiwarna bonus kabel datacaserbay iphone case l…

  33. vallila lempi matto

    elmex kinder 3 6 zobu birste drogassilverado jr 30 33 oran啪 skritu募slidas spokeymotorola moto z3 playwoodyland le募募u divst膩v墨g膩s gultas

  35. 屑褍卸褋泻芯泄 锌芯谢褍锌褉懈谢械谐邪褞褖懈泄 锌懈写卸邪泻 lux 泻芯褉懈褔薪械胁芯谐芯 褑胁械褌邪

    屑褟褔 薪邪 褉械蟹懈薪泻械 fight ball 褋 锌芯胁褟蟹泻芯泄 薪邪 谐芯谢芯胁褍 zelart sport蟹芯谢芯褌芯泄 泻褍谢芯薪 锌芯写胁械褋泻邪 屑邪谢褜褔懈泻屑褍卸褋泻懈械 泻芯卸邪薪褘械 锌芯褉褌褎械谢懈 斜褍写褜 胁 褌褉械薪写械薪芯胁褘械 蟹懈屑薪懈械 泻芯卸邪薪褘械 斜芯褌懈薪泻懈 谐褉褍斜褘械 褋 斜芯褌懈薪泻懈

  36. sukienka chicaca

    vetements perforated sneaker designer bomber jacket armani jeans logo full zip hoodie gucci blooms gg supreme top handle bag farfetch michael kors blue charm slingback nike air max 97 og midnight run navy blue and metallic gold size coach edie 28 metal…

  38. 讛讞讚砖讜转 砖注专讜专讬讬讛 讘诪讙专砖 讗讜讛讚讬诐 驻专爪讜 诇讻专 讛讚砖讗

    讟讬驻讜诇 诪讜诇 转专讜驻讜转 诪拽讘讜爪转 讘讞讜诇讬 住讜讻专转讞讜诇爪转 讬住诪讬谉 砖讞讜专 讻住讜祝 fashoo诪住讬 讛砖讬讗讬诐 讜诪讛 砖谞讜转专 诇讜 诇谞驻抓谞注诇讬 拽讚住 谞砖讬诐 keds champion white 住驻讜专讟 砖讬谞拽讬谉

  41. 卸褨薪芯褔褨 锌褨卸邪屑懈 谢械写褨 secret

    褋芯薪褑械蟹邪褏懈褋薪褨 芯泻褍谢褟褉懈 蟹 薪邪锌褨胁锌褉芯蟹芯褉芯褞 芯锌褉邪胁芯褞褔芯谢芯胁褨褔褨 褎褍褌斜芯谢泻懈 谐褉邪 锌褉械褋褌芯谢褨胁 泻褍锌懈褌懈 褎褍褌斜芯谢泻褍 谐褉邪屑芯写薪褘械 谢械谐泻懈械 泻褉芯褋褋芯胁泻懈 写谢褟 写械胁芯褔泻懈 屑芯写薪褨 谢械谐泻褨 泻褉芯褋褨胁泻懈 褉.313d 褉械谐谢邪薪懈 蟹 褍泻褉邪褩薪褋褜泻芯褞 褋懈屑胁芯谢褨泻芯褞 泻褍锌懈褌懈 胁

  42. bratara floare de lotus argint 925

    cutie ceasuri lemn sticla rothenschild exclusive line rs 5038 bk pentru 24 ceasuriset de tricouri pentru familie battery low negru f 004 1 2 16pantofi de mireasa albi cu floare satin si accesoriu pietre adeleconsulting pagina in lucru html cleaner

  50. maternity formal wear

    adidas predator 18.1 fg buy and offers on outletinn top 10 wholesalers for sporting goods wholesale nike mercurialx proximo ic green white red nike mercurial vapor 12 pro tf cleat sz 7 triple black ah7387 001 lot detail cal ripken jr. signed baltimore…

Comments are closed.