Found Sound

I find myself drawn to people who make music with nontraditional instruments.

I just watched a group perform on buckets, a wash tub, pot lids, and lengths of tubes. Their music was very formalized in that I could determine musical form through repetitive and contrasting sections even though it was not performed on formal instruments.

In my own classroom I have a tub of objects on which my students and I have created musical experiences.

Perhaps you've seen or heard of S.T.O.M.P. which was/is on Broadway. In this musical the performers make music in different settings on familiar objects such as brooms, pots & pans, keys, apples, plastic & metal trash cans, buckets, and...pretty much any thing you can imagine.

(I highly recommend your checking it out on YouTube.)

Back a few years there was a man named John Cage. Most today have never heard of him. He was a pioneer in the avant garde world of music. Back in the 1950s he was making music on objects.  His music was not very well received. Many people thought he was crazy.

Funny, people were amazed by what the performers today were able to create.

They are amazed by what S.T.O.M.P. does.

Too bad people did not appreciate John Cage the same way.

But, thank you Mr. Cage for being brave enough to challenge the musical norm.

Your influence continues.