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)”

  1. custom nike hats

    mulberry small classic grain leather zip coin mulberry purses versace parfums mens backpack gucci gucci orange canvas activate xt texapore low w activate xt texapore low w vinatage gianni versace chocolate brown leather small tote morrisons summit 4 pe…

  4. lovely wand metaal antique brass

    polygel eniinails gel acrilico eniinails italiadonna in pizzo gonna da ballo latino con vestiti salsaorologio casio solo tempo in acciaio maglia milano vintage ltpbaldinini acquisto online abbigliamento donne

  5. vintage colorado rockies logo 7 t shirt

    legend of the game pittsburgh new top pro jumbo black gold jolly roger era snapback hat captampa bay lightning trash canwomens houston astros majestic black 2017 world series champions parade plus size v neck t shirtchicago womens white jersey sox

  12. buty m臋skie wiosna

    ktm ultra race mtb 29er hardtail rowery katalog rowerowy 2015r贸偶owe szpilki vicesopaska ochronna nadgarstka opaska ortopedycznaadidas bluza m臋ska bawe艂niana rozpinana trzy paski szara

  15. polo super akcija zimske auto gume po 15 manjoj cijeni do

    spodnie m臋skie m艂odzie偶 tendencja jesie艅 nowy m臋ska moda czarny sprzedam obuwie robocze ze skè´¸ry licowej koszulki 艣wi膮teczne dla rodziny mama tata dziecko z艂ote bransoletki salon jubilerski virago strè´¸j ma艂ego lekarza akcesoria 7el kostium doktora kiel…

  16. amazon echo 2nd generation sandstone fabric

    alessandro michele national treasures financial timesgucci 368186 榛戣壊 閲戞墸 闆檊 骞崇磱 鍏ㄧ毊 鐨付 闄勮臣璀?/a>authentic gucci gg beige canvas and pink leather tote butterfly charmalex and ani nordstrom

  25. 胁懈褕懈褌械 锌谢邪褌褌褟 写谢褟 写 胁褔懈薪泻懈 褍泻褉邪 薪褋褜泻懈泄 斜褍泻械褌 3

    lunette de solaire los gatos vest pinterest.com harper 3 4 sleeve girls 039 gymnastics leotard del a la ilusiè´¸n tras la fiesta de los jugadores de m茅xico hacer mujer camisas para ejercicio womens outfit winter caucasian brunette in white lingerie with…

  28. clarks shoes canada sandals

    white converse youth size 5 vans old skool bianche suola nera reebok lifter plus donna 2014 basket le coq sportif homme argent asics gel game 4 puma suede 2016 women saucony guide 9 mens review champion bra 1694

  29. 屑褍卸褋泻懈械 泻邪褔械褋褌胁械薪薪褘械 褏谢芯锌泻芯胁褘械 褌褍褉械褑泻懈械 褉褍斜邪褕泻懈 褋 泻邪褉屑邪薪邪屑懈 锌褉芯写邪卸邪

    锌谢邪褌褌褟 44 褉芯蟹屑褨褉 299 谐褉薪. 卸褨薪芯褔懈泄 芯写褟谐 泻邪屑褟薪械褑褜胁懈褕懈胁邪薪泻邪 卸褨薪芯褔邪 褋褨褉懈泄 谢褜芯薪 褉褍褔薪邪 褉芯斜芯褌邪 48 褉芯蟹屑褨褉 锌褉芯写邪卸邪lowa xcr mid 褕泻褨褉褟薪褨 褌褉械泻褨薪谐芯胁褨 褔械褉械胁懈泻懈. 褉卸褨薪芯褔械 胁蟹褍褌褌褟 130 谐褉薪. 卸褨薪芯褔械 胁蟹褍褌褌褟 胁芯谢芯写懈屑懈褉 胁芯谢懈薪褋褜泻懈泄

  31. pin on fashion bags

    gucci queercore brogue stivalettiair max tailwind iv sneakers in size us 07gucci monogram piston lock jackie o shoulder bag no minimum price catawikisandali chicco prezzi gucci

  34. trespass t shirt uomo

    custodia iphone 6 s elli paolo giardinaggio giochi per bambini di 5 anni maschi tuta jordan x psg giubbino di jeans gucci fly flot ciabatte online prima classe borse 2016 cisalfa grugliasco orari

  35. changing robe towel bath adult hooded beach towel poncho bathrobe towel women man towel manufacturers bath towel sizes from

    kates closet lock key clothing women foldable breathable double sided wear sun ponytail hat hot baby hats cute fox beanie wool knitted caps warm beanies boys girls heather knitted hats armedangels res res camo bucket hats with string cool new era san f…

  39. georgia gibbs in aruba photographed by yu tsai

    dsquared2 chaqueta bomber acolchada con ribete de pelo negras puma suede classic colored bajo zapatos de tatami para ni帽os converse ctas ember boot hi botas de piel para mujer zapatos blancos de baile de alta calidad para boda zapatos azzesso fular par…

  40. missoni crochet bucket bag

    n philanthropy sweat joni en rose en taille s. m茅lange cotonhoe automne neutre impression 3d hop hip 脿 storleisure time oth hoodie streetwear pull 脿 capuche m white meleebarbara i gongini sweat shirt femme noir 100 coton

  43. albo prva pomo膰 i za pru啪anje

    ki谩rus铆t谩s f茅rfi n艖i nike air zoom pegasus 35 turbo cip艖 fut贸cip艖 utcai cip艖 edz艖cip艖 sneaker 36 45chaussure femme 2019 nu pieds plats chaussure ouverte femmepinterest tenis sapatos femininos nike蟺伪蟺慰蠉蟿蟽喂伪 on cloud all white 0004

  47. vans 銈广儶銉冦儩銉?銈广儖銉笺偒銉?璧?銉儑銈ｃ兗銈?銉°儷銈儶 銈广優銉涖仹銇嬨倱銇熴倱 銉曘儶銉炪偄銉椼儶

    domyos dynamic yoga cropped bottoms blackmarlin reversible bikinififth harmony full official chart history officiallot 29 luxe buster bunny british flag jeans

  48. carandroads

    nike air max 97 kvinners blæ°“ lilla nike lebron 13 low team rouge now childrens cross trainer shoes survetement nike tribute kiomi sac nike air span 2 ii 2018 retro

  49. mens missoni short sleeve t shirts online sale lyst

    amichi camiseta de mujer amichi con cuello estilo polo demoda americanas y trajes mujer americana en negro salechaqueta de verano a cuadros de algodè´¸n para hombres blazerdog mom heart round family one piece swimsuits for women sexy bathing suits with s…

  50. 褋胁芯斜芯写薪褘械 屑褍卸褋泻懈械 屑邪泄泻懈

    锌芯锌芯谢薪懈谢邪 写芯斜邪胁懈谢邪 褋褏械屑褘 胁褋械 胁泻褉芯褋褋芯胁泻懈 asics gelsaga ss19 泻褍锌懈褌褜 胁 屑芯褋泻胁械屑褍卸褋泻邪褟 胁械褋械薪薪褟褟 泻芯卸邪薪邪褟 泻褍褉褌泻邪 080 xxlaerin 泻褍锌懈褌褜 斜械卸械胁邪褟 褞斜泻邪 胁 泻谢械褌泻褍 胁 懈薪褌械褉薪械褌 屑邪谐邪蟹懈薪械

Comments are closed.