Black Allegheny is one of the first albums made up entirely of swarm generated music. The album was created using a swarm-controlled sampler called Becoming, which was programmed by the composer.

Imperceptible Time by Evan X. Merz

Becoming is an algorithmic composition program written in java, that builds upon some of John Cage’s frequently employed [...]

On February 23rd, 1924, Lejaren Hiller was born in New York City. Hiller would become recognized as one of the pioneers of algorithmic composition. In 1957 he wrote the first major computer assisted composition. The Illiac Suite was composed using University of Illinois’ Illiac computer.

Actual work on this problem was started [...]

In the spring of 1981, during a residency at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, choreographer Merce Cunningham and composer John Cage sat down to discuss their work and artistic process. As frequent collaborators, Cage and Cunningham pioneered a new framework of performance. Their novel approach allowed for mediums to exist independently, or rather [...]

Merce Cunningham passed away on Sunday, July 26th. Cunningham was known as a choreographer and dancer, but in this article, I want to review his work with composers of electroacoustic music. He collaborated extensively with John Cage, and also worked on a number of early movement-music interfaces. His ideas had a direct [...]

Interview with Adam Tendler on John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes

Today I had the opportunity to speak with pianist Adam Tendler about his involvement with John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes.

A part of the preparation table for Sonatas and Interludes

Tendler has performed the Sonatas and Interludes all over the country, including a [...]

In this interview, Alex Ross talks about his 2007 book The Rest is Noise. The book treads familiar territory: 20th Century Music. Still, it is one of the few books that tackles the subject at a layperson’s level. His book is one of very few that attempt to make 20th [...]