# Where's the slinky?



## rojo (May 26, 2006)

I had the radio on in the car today, and while flipping through the stations, caught part of a conversation about the slinky. Remember that toy from the 70's? It's uses were being listed, and it was mentioned that John Cage had written a work for, among other things, a slinky. I didn't recall hearing of such a work. Although I wasn't all that surprised to hear of it. lol

When I got home, I looked it up, and the name of the work is _Sounds of Venice._ I found this performance of the work on youtube:






A fine performance, but... no slinky. 

(Also, not sure this performance is politically correct; one performer is smoking in a room full of children. )

Has anyone heard this work performed with slinky? If so, how does it compare to this sans slinky version?


----------



## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Find the slinky in a John Cage composition?

This looks like a job for *SuperSome*!!


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I thought the exposition was a little rushed in that YouTube clip, but otherwise it is a virtuoso performance. 

A bit of trivia (hopefully not pedantia): The slinky has been around since at least the 50's. I had a hand-me-down slinky before I could walk, and of course tangled it into an unusable mess. 

You have me exploring John Cage's world now, at least to give him a chance.


----------



## rojo (May 26, 2006)

^ You're right; the slinky has apparently been around since 1945! Makes more sense, as _Sounds of Venice_ was premiered in 1959.

Funny thing is, Cage performed _Sounds of Venice_ on an Italian game show, and he also performed his work _Water Walk_ on the same show the week before. I had already heard _Water Walk_ in a clip on youtube; here it is:






Now, if only someone had a recording of _Sounds of Venice_ from the show as well, and was able to upload it to YT. Not that I'm not grateful for the _Water Walk_ clip, of course.

Here's a little info about S of V:

http://www.johncage.info/workscage/soundsvenice.html

Hmm, I wonder if I should try contacting the person who posted at YT. Although, chances are that if the person had it, they would have posted it at YT already.

Edit- forgot to add: if it was a work from 1959, that explains the smoking bit, which I have read elsewhere was written in as part of the work. Different times..


----------



## Guest (Mar 7, 2010)

*SuperSome!!!*

Haha. So I liked that new name!

Anyway, what I've found so far is what Robin's found, the _Sounds of Venice_ piece. And a note about this disc, which says that the concerto for prepared piano and orchestra has an amplified slinky in it.










And this disc, which says that the performance of _Variations II_ has an amplified slinky in it.










I could get up and put these on, of course, but I have this laptop on, of all places, my lap. (Who does that, right?)

But after I've sent this post, I'll get up and play those. And report back.

(I wouldn't be surprised if a slinky turned up in any of Cage's early percussion works, or in _Cartridge Music._ I saw a performance of this at Cal Arts a few years ago, and I recall a slinky there, but I go to a lot of new music concerts, and a lot of people use slinkies, amplified or not. It's just a cool instrument!)


----------



## rojo (May 26, 2006)

Hey, great; thanks for those suggestions, SuperSome.  I agree that it's a cool instrument. Or at least, I figure it would be. I'm intrigued by the notion, anyway. Still waiting to hear it used in performance.

I did find this. It shows a slinky is part of the performance:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Feb07/Sound_of_Venice_BMCD319224.jpg

I'm hoping to find a freebie to listen to somewhere. This is fun, playing 'find the slinky'. lol

Ooh, looky what I just found. And in my own backyard, too. _Sans escalier_ by Sonia Paco-Rocchia.


----------



## rojo (May 26, 2006)

I found some of SuperSome's suggestions. 

John Cage - _Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra_ :





 (Part 1 of 3)

John Cage - _Variations II_ :





 (Part 1 of 3)

John Cage - _Cartidge Music_ :






I also found

John Cage - _Lecture on Nothing_ :





 (excerpt)

And now, to listen to them.


----------



## Guest (Mar 8, 2010)

Well, the concerto for prepared piano does most certainly and unmistakably have an amplified slinky in it. Indeed. I haven't played that CD much. And I don't remember an amplified slinky in the Nonesuch LP of that that I did play. But again, a lot of people have used slinkies, amplified or not, and I haven't kept track of all of them!

I hope those youtube clips are OK, rojo. (They aren't always a very good way to listen to music.)


----------



## rojo (May 26, 2006)

That's true. Surely not the best way to listen, but _a_ way, anyway.

The first clip is pretty good. The sound is not too bad. The slinky isn't really used all that much in the piece, is it. The first time it appears is 9 minutes or so into the piece. When it is, it sounds pretty cool though.

I found the playing to be very good. I remember the Ensemble Modern from their work with Zappa, so I'm not surprised. Plenty of dynamic range in this piece. The sudden fff parts startle me sometimes. lol

Second clip up next.

To be honest, I think there might not even be a slinky in this piece. Although some sounds are slinky-like? According to this webpage, which seems a reliable source (James Pritchett: Writings on John Cage (and others))

http://www.rosewhitemusic.com/cage/texts/Var2.html#part2



> there were contact microphones attached to the piano, or to automobile "curb-scrapers" (essentially stiff wire springs) that could be used to play the strings of the piano.


So, technically not a slinky. At least not in this performance. All slinkies are springs, but not all springs are slinkies. It's hard to tell, are we hearing the spring, or the piano strings vibrating, or both. Piano strings are generally wound metal (at least, the bass ones,) and might sound somewhat similar to a slinky as well. In any case, definitely some pretty cool sounds in here, and closer to what I was imagining.

Forgot to mention. The opening sound of the performance is very cool! Trying to think of a way to describe it, but can't.

Third clip.

After posting this clip of _Cartridge Music,_ I discovered that there were several other performances of the piece in clips on YT. I'll check those out later. Won't post them all here. It was good to be able to see the performance here, although there seems to have been some editing. It seems to have been performed by students at a college, so it's a bit, erm, academic? Not much use of slinky here either, although we do get to see it's an actual slinky.

Fourth clip up next.

Cage himself speaking in this excerpt. I believe the other sound is a slinky, rattling around in or on something. It serves as a kind of background sound? Cool. (Must find a different word for 'cool'.)

"...
More and more,
I have the feeling,
that we are getting nowhere.
Slowly, as the talk goes on,
we are getting, nowhere.
And that is a pleasure.
...
Originally, we were nowhere.
And now again, we are having the pleasure,
of being, slowly, nowhere.
..."

I enjoyed this excerpt. *goes to look for more excerpts*


----------



## rojo (May 26, 2006)

I wonder if I've been too picky in limiting myself to just the slinky. I imagine that for at least some pieces, any spring will do, not sure. I mean, there are many variables to a spring: length, material of construction (a plastic slinky would surely not have the same effect as a metal one,) diameter, tension etc. And changing any of these variables would have an effect on the sound. But I imagine different springs are used in different performances of the same piece...

Perhaps I'm just nostalgic for a sound I remember from my youth, the precise sound that a slinky makes? That would be a bit silly, I guess.

In any case, we can certainly include pieces that use any and all kinds of springs in this thread. But I'm not changing the thread title.


----------

