Indeterminacy of Instrumentation Over Time: Digital Curation of John Cage Instrumentation

Abstract

Whilst historically informed performance normally makes use of instruments of the era from which the composition was written, the20th century may not be able to be interpreted in this manner due to the high risk of technological obsolescence of specific electronic instruments. The risks of not understanding what is required in re-performance of any technology-based piece of music are significant, with the potential that’s ome works may be lost, living on only as scores and recordings, if those are made and preserved. The speed at which technology developed in the20th century and is developing in the 21st century requires action to be taken contemporaneously to the act of composition, as even the space of 50 years can lead to obsolesence of hardware and software. This paper takes a technical look at the digital curation issues of electronic instruments and sound sources used by John Cage, and the issues of preservation and re-performance of his pieces in the year that would have marked his 100th birthday