Sound, gesture and symbol The relation between notation and structure in American experimental music
Thomas DeLio · Interface · 1981
This is a study of notation in recent music. Central to this exploration is the idea that, with respect to much recent music, what composers notate are the activities associated with the compositional process rather than the sonic remnants of that process. Two categories of structure and notation are defined and explored ‐ behaviorism and pluralism. Works in the former category which are studied are Christian Wolff;s For 1, 2 or 3 People and Robert Ashley's in memoriam... Crazy Horse; works in the latter category, Pozzi Escot's Neyrac Lux and John Cage's Variations II.