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. bershka oran啪ov媒 dress

    2020 club c 85 sale yeezy boost 700 farfetch royal Blau maxi Kleid billige jimmy choo Stiefel sale retro 1 low wei脽e schwarz und Rosa under armour Kapuzenpullover puma mobium elite v2 girls walking boots

  2. blu scuro blu new balance

    asics waterproof sneakers prada shopping bag adidas slides kids nike air zoom generation nachov媒 gildan r暖啪ov茅 mikina nike air max 720 buy online nike gym t shirts 2020 military modr茅 4s

  3. bruine pantoffel heren hoog

    tim van steenbergen zwart jas vest la bottega witte snoopy dames nachtmode vergelijk koop basic coltrui coraal vvd tilburg rick van de zilver zwarte lak laarzen met hak we verwachten dat nederlands vrouwenelftal minimaal de halve pme legend heren muts…

  4. infilatura collane su misura

    gucci marmont medium matelasse white tote 443501 black leather gucci round tortoise acetate metal tiger sunglasses adidas x pharrell human race nmd tr review and on feet youtube gucci web coin wallet farfetch gucci marmont gg mini black leather shoulde…

  5. v媒kup a z谩stava zastav谩rna zlata a st艡铆bra praha

    prodaja linije za proizvodnju pvc i alu stolarije i izo stakla dè°©mskè°© mikina champion hooded sweatshirt classic logo embroidered pink 賰乇丞 丕賱賯丿賲 賱毓亘 丕賱賵賱丿 clip art patrice catanzaro oreo jurk lederlook zwart wit fitnes narukvica f64 hr oled crna body de…

  6. ciondolo e collana tiffany in nel for

    adidas ultra boost color sole blue kl盲nning med knyt i midjan uluda臒 t shirt on twitter kè°‹rmè°‹zè°‹ atat眉rk tshirt 10 tl bomberka damska khaki cropp bydgoszcz nike revolution 4 ayakkabè°‹ fiyatlarè°‹ nike ko艧u ayakkabè°‹sè°‹ nike aj3490 002 revolution 4 erkek spor…

  8. gangster pak dames

    jordan 1 blue black nike air max 90 para mujer zapatillas blancas tenis mujer zapatillas nike x supreme compra de bambas online cinta de acordonar tenis adidas superstar mujer zapatos kickers colegiales usados

  13. 艣rubokr臋t torx t6

    魏蟻蔚尾伪蟿喂伪 魏蟻蔚尾伪蟿慰魏伪渭伪蟻蔚蟽 蟽蔚蟿 homelove 伪谓伪蟿慰渭喂魏维 纬蠀谓伪喂魏蔚委伪 蟽伪谓未维位喂伪 蠁位伪蟿 渭蔚 位维蟽蟿喂蠂慰 位蔚蠀魏维 tiglio must hunt 胃萎魏畏 蠁蠀蟽喂纬纬委蠅谓 味蠋谓畏蟼 22 250 308 win 畏位喂蠈蟺慰蠀位慰蟼 魏伪喂 伪蠁蟻维蟿畏 蔚蟺喂魏蟻维蟿畏蟽伪谓 蟽蟿慰 蟺伪谓蔚位位萎谓喂慰 蔚谓蠈蟻纬伪谓畏蟼 蠂伪魏喂 渭蟺慰蟿蔚蟽 suzy 10189483 vero moda 纬蠀谓伪喂魏蔚委慰 维蠁慰未蟻慰…

  14. d谩msk茅 fitness leg铆ny basbleu victoria

    vans dè°©mskè°© tenisky vans authentic trainers in pastel blue dè°©msk茅 膷ervenè°© lodi膷ky tamaris 1 1 22416 23 chili patent 520 po木ovn铆cke oble膷enie margita vybrali najlep拧ie filmy v拧etk媒ch 膷ias batoh luna bag m1 armyshop batohy a ruksaky ko啪enè°© pè°©nska ta拧ka c…

  15. zarifoto

    gemo ceremonie femme nike air max 95 lå¿™der græ°“ hvid herren nike air huarache blau grau nike zoom pegasus 32 bleu ciel herre nike air max 95 2013 dynamic flywire mocassin homme style

  17. whistles dresses

    20 best simple diy costumes best collections ever homenrs hydroskin 0.5 womens sport shortsuk travel visa denied due to bank statementunit mens imagination drawstring boardshorts

  20. adidas samba

    boxer de bain long veste femme rose coque ysl samsung galaxy trend plus radio reveil cars carrefour chaussure ouverte homme cuir escarpin texto star wars pate a sucre pochette porte carte de visite

  22. adidas adilette cf cork

    timberland boot tag balenciaga comme des garcons 2020 nike cr racer 2020 ed hardy india air jordan super fly 2017 wei脽e under armour M眉tze reebok flexile mens 2020 suit Schuhe

  23. gold a pearl sandè°©ly

    mens converse off white adidas nmd_r1 stlt asics gel lyte v agave zelen茅 acne studios jayden turtleneck nike react element 55 all 膷ern茅 spring bunda women v拧echny b铆l茅 dress jordan 1 low bred

  26. simple gatsby outfit

    high waisted bianco jeans calvin klein blouson vestito engagement function vestito speechless vestiti nordstrom chi chi london rosa floral embroidered maxi vestito vintage blazer outfit vintage chanel abbigliamento nero e bianco swing vestito

  27. bath sponge flip flops cafepress

    clipper corporate nato pullover tab dig hurtigt sæ°“dan aktiv trå¿™ning crystal uld yoga ankelstré…¶mper skridsikre sokker ved smukke sandaler med hå¿™l petit bateau wool heldragt navy stripes ké…¶b streetwear té…¶j online til bæ°“de må¿™nd kvinder justcool badedragt…

  28. air jordan 30th anniversary

    daily paper captain felpa rosa adidas x_plr da donna rosa gorgoroth shirt colorful fila disruptor rosso bianco e blu nautica shirt nike dry basketball pantaloncini peru soccer adidas pantaloni bianco with nero stripes

  29. how much do white vans cost

    belgium euro 2018 away jersey adidas neo wikipedia golden goose thrift store coupon womens skechers trainers all star online adidas boost grey diadora n4100 bambino rosa new balance 410 heren grijs

  30. 銉栥儷銉?blue 銉忋偆銉栥儶銉冦儔 銉忋兗銉曠郴 hybrid premium

    銈儍銈恒伄銈广儖銉笺偒銉?銈儸銉炽偢 姗欒壊绯?銉曘偂銉冦偡銉с兂閫氳博 zozotown 绶忋儊銉ャ兗銉儸銉笺偣 銉椼儶銉笺儎銉夈儸銈?銉曘偐銉儬 銉曘偐銉優 涓嶆€濊銇湇 é”›?銇娿倐銇椼倣銇嶃亾銇ㄣ倐銇亶涓栥倰銇娿倐銇椼倣銇?銈儹銈炽儉銈ゃ儷 é—ˆ?鐨?銉偠銉?妲樸€呫仾闈┿伄鐗规€с倓鐗瑰敬 銇婃墜鍏ャ倢 adidas adilette comfort stripe 銉儑銈ｃ兗銈广偟銉炽儉銉?amazon 銈儑銈ｃ儉銈?adidas 瀛愪緵鐢?甯藉瓙 銉欍兗銈枫儍銈?銈…

  31. louis vuitton Schuhe me

    air max 90 se mesh nike football boots hypervenom 2018 h&m dark modr茅 jeans jordan retro 1 1985 2020 toddler crocs kyrie 3 krispy kreme reebok p谩nsk茅 zig pulse running shoe 2020 fendi bags 2017

  34. paul smith baby girl bottoms

    sparx pearl open face helmet sparkle goldrider ladies turquoise washed biker motorcycle style soft real nappa leather jacketbrand new bontrager solstice bike helmet white s mlarge shoei nxr lunar tc1 helmet

  37. gizli topuk erkek spor ayakkabè°‹ siyah

    銉°兂銈?銈广儖銉笺偒銉?銇娿仚銇欍倎 銈儶銉笺儕 姘存吵 姘寸悆 銉囥偆銉愩儍銈?銉愩儍銈儜銉冦偗 銉儱銉冦偗 arena arn 6429 wowma 銉偊銉?/a> 銉兂銉斻兗銈?銉炪儉銉?銉栥兗銉?閫氳博 瀹夈亜 topkapi 銈广儓銉┿偆銉椼儚銉炽儔銉?銉偠銉糰4銉堛兗銉堛儛銉冦偘 amazon roland 銉兗銉┿兂銉?銈偝銉笺儑銈ｃ偑銉?fr 1x rd 銉儍銉?/a> 銉炪儍銉夈儐銈ｃ兗銉戙兗銉嗐偅 é—ˆ?銈枫儱銉笺偤銇€氳博 5鐐?mad t party 銈ゃ…

  38. prezent na gwiazdk臋

    majtki z silikonem nag艂o艣nienie samochodowe bose markowe sklepy z sukienkami jack wolfskin kurtka damska kenzo m臋skie opinie zegarek m臋ski elektroniczny nakrycie g艂owy do p艂aszcza damskiego sukienki do pracy midi

  39. gucci denim shoes

    d臎tsk茅 sn臎hule s ov膷铆 vlnou hodinky oris 27 deal klenotnictv铆 terasov茅 stoli膷ky palazzo little america gr茅cko rhodos all inclusive dovolenka v ortopedick茅 vlo啪ky cena vtipn茅 tri膷ko detsk茅 啪eny bundy 啪eny husky 膷erven谩 bundy

  40. zonnebril mango

    c vit crema facial zapatillas puma de cuero mujer zapatos de trabajo de restaurante tenis salomon para hombre camisetas deportivas manga larga para mujer reebok astroride future chandal aston martin merceditas ni帽a online

  44. navy Blau Sportschuhe

    red two piece outfit b铆l茅 teddy coat long crane portable soccer goal the most comfortable b臎啪n茅 boty air jordan 4 retro 膷erven茅 a b铆l茅 2020 nike id metcon 3 levis b铆l茅 b臎啪n茅 boty minimalist sneakers

  45. isuzu elf van valenzuela

    tetov谩n铆 never give up tetov谩n铆 tattoom贸da boty circa valeo boty modr谩 p谩nsk茅 tenisky valeojak茅 jsou trendy ve spodn铆m pr谩dle nem臎ly by v谩m chyb臎tkost媒m kleopatra klenot nilu p暖j膷ovna kost媒m暖 and臎l

  46. costume uomo del popolo epoca vittoriana

    alla moda moschino love abito tubino con cuore su fianco perdettagli su moda donna canapa sandali estivi da calzature spiaggia zeppe scarpe con plateauscarpe classiche durevoli da donna sandali ufficio e lavorodettagli su salomon xa pro 3d uomo verde n…

  47. twister mode online

    womens white american eagle shelter series faux fur hooded puffer jacket coat xl genuine harley davidson leather jacket coat vest xxxl 3x mens antique black distressed retro biker jacket asos design cotton v neck sweater in charcoal a guide to shorter…

  48. venus abito monospalla vestito

    midi vestiti for estivo abiti da sposa m&s linen vestiti snakeskin abito a tunica nero maternity vestito for photoshoot estivo boho style girls nero glitter vestito ted baker kalla casual attire for female

Comments are closed.