Mao Tse-tung once said that there is no such thing as art for art's sake, art that stands above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics. So, what politics is my music attached to, or dependent on?
This is hard to answer.
My music is most at home in personal initiatives with little financial involvement and little audience. This sheltered, though open environment is for me the most important political dimension of my music.
But the political in art works on two levels: the politics in which it is embedded, and the politics internal to it. I try to be sensitive to the political constituents of what I do, but this reflects only implicitly on the music itself. That is to say, as an element of the situation, not as a driving force, theme or topic.
The way my music is structured and notated may reflect a preference for horizontal political organization. I use the word 'political' here simply in the sense of 'concerning people'.
As there are always three parties involved in making (my) music, it only seems fair that each would allow the others an equal share in the process.
"Composing's one thing, performing's another, listening's a third. What can they have to do with each other?" - John Cage
"What writing music comes down to, in the end, is care. We create situations. We care about them and take care of them. And we care for the people involved." - Michael Pisaro
"What is the material of a composition? It's not just notes and rests, and it's not just a beautiful idea that originates in the unique mind of a genius. It's ideas derived from experience, from social relations." - Cornelius Cardew
Amsterdam, xii '09
