I recommend Kyle Gann’s book No Such Thing as Silence: John Cage’s 4’33”: a thorough and entertaining look at that provocative piece.  I was happy to see that Kyle mentioned the performance he and I did of Cage’s Experiences No. 1, long ago when we were fellow composition students at Oberlin Conservatory.

An asemic sound poem, from around 1977.

From the sketchbook…

I sometimes read this asemic list poem out in San Francisco, back in the ’70s.

A nocebo is a placebo with harmful side effects.  This one is a waltz for viola and piano.

“What It’s Like To Be Dead” was a miniature three-act play, enacting the life cycle, performed with a cast of toys on three suitcases.  I included it in some of my shows in the ’80s, like this one.

Life is nasty, it is brutish.  Here’s the first part.

I do like the rich sound of viola and organ.  Here’s the beginning of a brooding piece for that combination.

Every show must come to an end.  I wrote this song for that occasion; here’s the first part of it.