0:00:09.305,0:00:12.305
I thought if I skipped[br]it might help my nerves,

0:00:12.527,0:00:15.527
but I'm actually having[br]a paradoxical reaction to that,

0:00:15.548,0:00:17.369
so that was a bad idea. (Laughter)

0:00:17.847,0:00:19.714
Thank you for that introduction,

0:00:19.735,0:00:22.228
I was really delighted[br]to receive the invitation

0:00:22.756,0:00:25.756
to present to you some of my music[br]and some of my work

0:00:25.777,0:00:28.777
as a composer, presumably[br]because it appeals

0:00:28.798,0:00:31.798
to my well-known and abundant narcissism.

0:00:31.819,0:00:33.770
(Laughter)

0:00:33.770,0:00:36.474
And I'm not kidding,[br]I just think we should just say that

0:00:36.474,0:00:38.941
and move forward. (Laughter)

0:00:38.962,0:00:42.433
So, but the thing is,[br]a dilemma quickly arose,

0:00:42.515,0:00:44.719
and that is that I'm really bored[br]with music,

0:00:44.740,0:00:47.740
and I'm really bored[br]with the role of the composer,

0:00:48.172,0:00:51.172
and so I decided to put[br]that idea, boredom,

0:00:51.193,0:00:53.612
as the focus of my presentation[br]to you today.

0:00:53.633,0:00:56.216
And I'm going to share[br]my music with you, but I hope

0:00:56.237,0:00:58.714
that I'm going to do so[br]in a way that tells a story,

0:00:58.735,0:01:01.956
tells a story about how I used boredom[br]as a catalyst

0:01:02.003,0:01:04.631
for creativity and invention,[br]and how boredom

0:01:04.653,0:01:07.653
actually forced me to change[br]the fundamental question

0:01:07.674,0:01:09.537
that I was asking in my discipline,

0:01:09.558,0:01:11.878
and how boredom also, in a sense,

0:01:12.144,0:01:15.735
pushed me towards taking[br]on roles beyond the sort of

0:01:15.889,0:01:18.498
most traditional, narrow definition[br]of a composer.

0:01:18.666,0:01:21.190
What I'd like to do today[br]is to start with an excerpt

0:01:21.211,0:01:23.965
of a piece of music at the piano.

0:01:24.029,0:01:27.029
(Music)

0:01:33.503,0:01:36.915
Okay, I wrote that. (Laughter)

0:01:36.936,0:01:39.032
No, it's not - (Applause)[br]Oh, why thank you.

0:01:39.052,0:01:40.473
No, no, I didn't write that.

0:01:40.474,0:01:42.745
In fact, that was a piece by Beethoven,

0:01:42.746,0:01:45.083
and so I was not functioning[br]as a composer.

0:01:45.104,0:01:48.060
Just now I was functioning[br]in the role of the interpreter,

0:01:48.081,0:01:50.068
and there I am, interpreter.

0:01:50.089,0:01:53.329
So, an interpreter of what?[br]Of a piece of music, right?

0:01:53.352,0:01:57.217
But we can ask the question,[br]"But is it music?"

0:01:57.329,0:01:59.581
And I say this rhetorically,[br]because of course

0:01:59.581,0:02:02.312
by just about any standard[br]we would have to concede

0:02:02.352,0:02:04.421
that this is, of course, a piece of music,

0:02:04.421,0:02:06.433
but I put this here now because,

0:02:06.433,0:02:08.856
just to set it in your brains[br]for the moment,

0:02:08.887,0:02:11.127
because we're going to return[br]to this question.

0:02:11.127,0:02:12.959
It's going to be a kind of a refrain

0:02:12.959,0:02:14.760
as we go through the presentation.

0:02:14.760,0:02:17.065
So here we have this piece[br]of music by Beethoven,

0:02:17.065,0:02:19.675
and my problem with it is, it's boring.

0:02:19.696,0:02:24.252
I mean - I'm just like, a hush,[br]huh - It's like - (Laughter)

0:02:26.154,0:02:28.188
It's Beethoven, how can you say that?

0:02:28.209,0:02:30.617
No, well, I don't know,[br]it's very familiar to me.

0:02:30.617,0:02:34.148
I had to practice it as a kid,[br]and I'm really sick of it. (Laughter)

0:02:34.148,0:02:36.499
So what I might like to try to do[br]is to change it,

0:02:36.499,0:02:38.945
to transform it in some ways,[br]to personalize it,

0:02:38.945,0:02:41.282
so I might take the opening,[br]like this idea -

0:02:41.282,0:02:43.060
(Music)

0:02:43.061,0:02:47.035
and then I might substitute - (Music)

0:02:47.958,0:02:49.911
and then I might improvise on that melody

0:02:49.931,0:02:52.931
that goes forward from there - (Music)

0:02:54.202,0:02:57.202
(Music)

0:03:19.254,0:03:22.254
So that might be the kind of thing -[br]Why thank you.

0:03:22.366,0:03:25.366
(Applause)

0:03:25.961,0:03:28.198
That would be the kind[br]of thing that I would do,

0:03:28.198,0:03:30.698
and it's not necessarily[br]better than the Beethoven.

0:03:30.698,0:03:34.124
In fact, I think it's not better than it.[br]The thing is - (Laughter) -

0:03:34.161,0:03:37.161
it's more interesting to me,[br]it's less boring for me.

0:03:39.547,0:03:43.147
I'm really leaning into me, because I,[br]because I have to think

0:03:43.457,0:03:46.457
about what decisions[br]I'm going to make on the fly

0:03:46.620,0:03:49.730
as that Beethoven text is running[br]in time through my head

0:03:49.751,0:03:52.545
and I'm trying to figure out[br]what kinds of transformations

0:03:52.545,0:03:53.933
I'm going to make to it.

0:03:53.933,0:03:56.313
So this is an engaging enterprise for me,

0:03:57.766,0:04:03.104
and I've really leaned into[br]that first person pronoun thing there,

0:04:03.787,0:04:06.359
and now my face appears twice,[br]so I think we can agree

0:04:06.379,0:04:09.563
that this is a fundamentally[br]solipsistic enterprise. (Laughter)

0:04:10.799,0:04:13.906
But it's an engaging one,[br]and it's interesting to me for a while,

0:04:13.906,0:04:16.041
but then I get bored with it, and by it,

0:04:16.041,0:04:18.283
I actually mean, the piano,[br]because it becomes,

0:04:18.284,0:04:21.861
it's this familiar instrument,[br]it's timbral range is actually

0:04:21.882,0:04:24.752
pretty compressed, at least[br]when you play on the keyboard,

0:04:24.752,0:04:27.222
and if you're not doing things[br]like listening to it

0:04:27.222,0:04:30.154
after you've lit it on fire[br]or something like that, you know.

0:04:30.154,0:04:32.414
It gets a little bit boring,[br]and so pretty soon

0:04:32.414,0:04:35.029
I go through other instruments,[br]they become familiar,

0:04:35.029,0:04:37.746
and eventually I find myself[br]designing and constructing

0:04:37.746,0:04:40.254
my own instrument,[br]and I brought one with me today,

0:04:40.725,0:04:43.660
and I thought I would play[br]a little bit on it for you

0:04:43.661,0:04:45.866
so you can hear what it sounds like.

0:04:45.867,0:04:48.803
(Music)

0:04:57.669,0:05:00.669
You've got to have doorstops,[br]that's important. (Laughter)

0:05:03.043,0:05:06.043
I've got combs.[br]They're the only combs that I own. (Music)

0:05:06.151,0:05:09.151
They're all mounted on my instruments.[br](Laughter)

0:05:09.307,0:05:12.307
(Music)

0:05:18.366,0:05:20.388
I can actually do all sorts of things.

0:05:20.388,0:05:22.078
I can play with a violin bow.

0:05:22.078,0:05:23.863
I don't have to use the chopsticks.

0:05:23.863,0:05:26.543
So we have this sound. (Music)

0:05:31.302,0:05:33.345
And with a bank of live electronics,

0:05:33.346,0:05:36.346
I can change the sounds radically. (Music)

0:05:37.022,0:05:40.022
(Music)

0:05:46.541,0:05:49.541
Like that, and like this. (Music)

0:05:52.544,0:05:54.661
And so forth.

0:05:54.682,0:05:57.599
So this gives you a little bit[br]of an idea of the sound world

0:05:57.599,0:06:00.185
of this instrument, which I think[br]is quite interesting

0:06:00.185,0:06:02.645
and it puts me in the role[br]of the inventor,

0:06:02.645,0:06:04.158
and the nice thing about -

0:06:04.158,0:06:06.850
This instrument is called[br]the Mouseketeer... (Laughter)

0:06:06.850,0:06:08.882
and the cool thing about it is

0:06:08.883,0:06:11.883
I'm the world's greatest[br]Mouseketeer player. (Laughter)

0:06:11.904,0:06:13.728
Okay? (Applause)

0:06:14.070,0:06:17.070
So in that regard,[br]this is one of the things,

0:06:17.095,0:06:19.085
this is one of the privileges of being,

0:06:19.106,0:06:22.645
and here's another role,[br]the inventor, and by the way,

0:06:22.666,0:06:24.857
when I told you[br]that I'm the world's greatest,

0:06:24.878,0:06:28.474
if you're keeping score,[br]we've had narcissism and solipsism

0:06:28.600,0:06:30.603
and now a healthy dose of egocentricism.

0:06:30.624,0:06:34.339
I know some of you are just, you know -[br]bingo! (Laughter)

0:06:34.498,0:06:37.498
Anyway, so this is also[br]a really enjoyable role.

0:06:39.814,0:06:43.036
I should concede also that I'm[br]the world's worst Mouseketeer player,

0:06:43.036,0:06:45.742
and it was this distinction[br]that I was most worried about

0:06:45.742,0:06:48.193
when I was on that prior side[br]of the tenure divide.

0:06:48.193,0:06:50.921
I'm glad I'm past that.[br]We're not going to go into that.

0:06:50.921,0:06:53.406
I'm crying on the inside.[br]There are still scars.

0:06:53.407,0:06:56.880
Anyway, but I guess my point[br]is that all of these enterprises

0:06:56.937,0:07:00.513
are engaging to me in their multiplicity,[br]but as I've presented them

0:07:00.593,0:07:04.466
to you today, they're actually[br]solitary enterprises,

0:07:05.110,0:07:08.110
and so pretty soon I want to commune[br]with other people,

0:07:08.137,0:07:11.384
and so I'm delighted that in fact[br]I get to compose works for them.

0:07:11.384,0:07:14.895
I get to write, sometimes for soloists[br]and I get to work with one person,

0:07:14.895,0:07:17.729
sometimes full orchestras,[br]and I work with a lot of people,

0:07:17.729,0:07:20.648
and this is probably the capacity,[br]the role creatively

0:07:20.729,0:07:23.729
for which I'm probably[br]best known professionally.

0:07:23.891,0:07:26.865
Now, some of my scores[br]as a composer look like this,

0:07:26.866,0:07:28.938
and others look like this,

0:07:28.939,0:07:31.022
and some look like this,

0:07:31.023,0:07:34.023
and I make all of these by hand,[br]and it's really tedious.

0:07:34.069,0:07:36.401
It takes a long, long time[br]to make these scores,

0:07:36.402,0:07:38.574
and right now I'm working on a piece

0:07:38.575,0:07:40.597
that's 180 pages in length,

0:07:40.598,0:07:43.816
and it's just a big chunk of my life,[br]and I'm just pulling out hair.

0:07:45.094,0:07:48.209
I have a lot of it, and that's[br]a good thing I suppose. (Laughter)

0:07:48.209,0:07:50.866
So this gets really boring[br]and really tiresome for me,

0:07:50.867,0:07:53.920
so after a while the process[br]of notating is not only boring,

0:07:53.943,0:07:56.943
but I actually want the notation[br]to be more interesting,

0:07:56.972,0:07:59.782
and so that's pushed me to do[br]other projects like this one.

0:07:59.802,0:08:01.920
This is an excerpt from a score called

0:08:01.921,0:08:03.497
"The Metaphysics of Notation."

0:08:03.518,0:08:06.505
The full score is 72 feet wide.

0:08:06.656,0:08:09.353
It's a bunch of crazy[br]pictographic notation.

0:08:09.354,0:08:11.967
Let's zoom in on one section[br]of it right here.

0:08:11.967,0:08:13.760
You can see it's rather detailed.

0:08:13.760,0:08:16.057
I do all of this with drafting templates,

0:08:16.057,0:08:19.846
with straight edges,[br]with French curves, and by freehand,

0:08:20.282,0:08:23.203
and the 72 feet was actually split

0:08:23.224,0:08:26.441
into 12 six-foot-wide panels[br]that were installed

0:08:26.505,0:08:31.229
around the Cantor Arts Center Museum[br]lobby balcony,

0:08:32.433,0:08:35.433
and it appeared[br]for one year in the museum,

0:08:35.455,0:08:38.312
and during that year,[br]it was experienced as visual art

0:08:38.313,0:08:41.082
most of the week, except,[br]as you can see in these pictures,

0:08:41.082,0:08:43.844
on Fridays, from noon til one,[br]and only during that time,

0:08:43.844,0:08:46.444
various performers came[br]and interpreted these strange

0:08:46.465,0:08:49.573
and undefined pictographic glyphs.[br](Laughter)

0:08:49.911,0:08:53.388
Now this was a really[br]exciting experience for me.

0:08:53.409,0:08:56.504
It was gratifying musically,[br]but I think the more important thing

0:08:56.504,0:08:59.333
is it was exciting because[br]I got to take on another role,

0:08:59.333,0:09:01.669
especially given that it appeared[br]in a museum,

0:09:01.669,0:09:04.045
and that is as visual artist. (Laughter)

0:09:05.866,0:09:08.866
We're going to fill up the whole thing,[br]don't worry. (Laughter)

0:09:09.486,0:09:11.631
I am multitudes. (Laughter)

0:09:12.769,0:09:15.633
So one of the things is that,[br]I mean, some people would say,

0:09:15.633,0:09:18.549
like, "Oh, you're being a dilettante,"[br]and maybe that's true.

0:09:18.549,0:09:20.036
I can understand how, I mean,

0:09:20.037,0:09:22.195
because I don't have a pedigree[br]in visual art

0:09:22.196,0:09:24.771
and I don't have any training,[br]but it's just something

0:09:24.771,0:09:27.404
that I wanted to do as an extension[br]of my composition,

0:09:27.404,0:09:29.598
as an extension[br]of a kind of creative impulse.

0:09:29.599,0:09:32.599
I can understand the question, though.[br]"But is it music?"

0:09:32.620,0:09:34.878
I mean, there's not[br]any traditional notation.

0:09:34.899,0:09:37.581
I can also understand[br]that sort of implicit criticism

0:09:37.581,0:09:40.937
in this piece, "S-tog," which I made[br]when I was living in Copenhagen.

0:09:40.937,0:09:42.533
I took the Copenhagen subway map

0:09:42.566,0:09:45.566
and I renamed all the stations[br]to abstract musical provocations,

0:09:45.587,0:09:48.357
and the players, who are synchronized[br]with stopwatches,

0:09:48.378,0:09:51.568
follow the timetables, which are listed[br]in minutes past the hour.

0:09:51.568,0:09:53.964
So this is a case of actually[br]adapting something,

0:09:53.985,0:09:55.653
or maybe stealing something,

0:09:55.674,0:09:58.014
and then turning it[br]into a musical notation.

0:09:59.281,0:10:02.955
You folks have been neglected,[br]I'll stand here for a couple of minutes.

0:10:02.975,0:10:04.594
(Applause)

0:10:04.595,0:10:06.749
Another adaptation would be this piece.

0:10:06.769,0:10:08.958
The wristwatch, I should say.

0:10:08.979,0:10:12.398
I took the idea of the wristwatch,[br]and I turned it into a musical score.

0:10:12.533,0:10:16.533
I made my own faces, and had[br]a company fabricate them,

0:10:16.554,0:10:18.458
and the players follow these scores.

0:10:18.479,0:10:20.144
They follow the second hands,

0:10:20.144,0:10:23.680
and as they pass over the various symbols,[br]the players respond musically.

0:10:23.701,0:10:25.923
Here's another example from another piece,

0:10:25.944,0:10:27.611
and then its realization.

0:10:29.656,0:10:32.534
So in these two capacities,[br]I've been scavenger,

0:10:32.555,0:10:35.032
in the sense of taking, like,[br]the subway map, right,

0:10:35.052,0:10:37.459
or thief maybe,[br]and I've also been designer,

0:10:37.460,0:10:39.774
in the case of making the wristwatches.

0:10:39.775,0:10:42.424
And once again, this is,[br]for me, interesting.

0:10:43.355,0:10:46.668
Another role that I like to take on[br]is that of the performance artist.

0:10:46.668,0:10:49.585
Some of my pieces have these[br]kind of weird theatric elements,

0:10:49.585,0:10:50.977
and I often perform them.

0:10:50.977,0:10:53.760
I want to show you a clip[br]from a piece called "Echolalia."

0:10:53.760,0:10:56.325
This is actually being performed[br]by Brian McWhorter,

0:10:56.325,0:10:58.049
who is an extraordinary performer.

0:10:58.049,0:11:01.427
Let's watch a little bit of this,[br]and please notice the instrumentation.

0:11:01.427,0:11:04.403
(Music)

0:11:29.975,0:11:32.038
Okay, I hear you were laughing nervously

0:11:32.038,0:11:35.182
because you too could hear that the drill[br]was a little bit sharp,

0:11:35.182,0:11:37.690
the intonation was a little questionable.[br](Laughter)

0:11:37.690,0:11:39.658
Let's watch just another clip.

0:11:39.658,0:11:41.878
(Music)

0:11:46.445,0:11:47.609
Okay, that's enough.

0:11:47.630,0:11:50.704
You can see the mayhem continues,[br]and there's, you know,

0:11:50.725,0:11:53.573
there were no clarinets and trumpets[br]and flutes and violins.

0:11:53.573,0:11:55.836
Here's a piece that has[br]an even more unusual,

0:11:55.836,0:11:57.289
more peculiar instrumentation.

0:11:57.289,0:12:00.363
This is "Tlön," for three conductors[br]and no players. (Laughter)

0:12:13.256,0:12:15.979
This was based on the experience[br]of actually watching

0:12:15.979,0:12:18.750
two people having a virulent[br]argument in sign language,

0:12:18.750,0:12:20.719
which produced no decibels to speak of,

0:12:20.719,0:12:23.600
but affectively, psychologically,[br]was a very loud experience.

0:12:23.649,0:12:26.649
So, yeah, I get it, with,[br]like, the weird appliances

0:12:26.670,0:12:30.714
and then the total absence[br]of conventional instruments

0:12:30.735,0:12:33.865
and this glut of conductors,[br]people might, you know,

0:12:33.886,0:12:36.567
wonder, yeah, "Is this music?"

0:12:36.688,0:12:40.527
But let's move on to a piece where[br]clearly I'm behaving myself,

0:12:40.548,0:12:43.034
and that is my "Concerto for Orchestra."

0:12:43.055,0:12:46.640
You're going to notice a lot[br]of conventional instruments in this clip.

0:12:46.661,0:12:49.661
(Music)

0:12:59.852,0:13:02.165
Are you bored? I'm a little bored.

0:13:02.178,0:13:04.435
This, in fact, is not[br]the title of this piece.

0:13:04.435,0:13:07.489
I was a bit mischievous.[br]In fact, to make it more interesting,

0:13:07.489,0:13:10.920
I put a space right in here,[br]and this is the actual title of the piece.

0:13:10.920,0:13:12.956
Let's continue with that same excerpt.

0:13:12.956,0:13:15.679
(Music)

0:13:23.043,0:13:26.043
It's better with a florist, right?[br](Laughter) (Music)

0:13:30.760,0:13:33.713
Or at least it's less boring.[br]Let's watch a couple more clips.

0:13:34.281,0:13:37.281
(Music)

0:13:47.679,0:13:50.979
So with all these theatric elements,[br]this pushes me in another role,

0:13:50.979,0:13:53.311
and that would be,[br]possibly, the dramaturge.

0:13:53.875,0:13:57.953
I was playing nice. I had to write[br]the orchestra bits, right?

0:13:58.037,0:14:00.499
Okay? But then there was[br]this other stuff, right?

0:14:00.500,0:14:02.834
There was the florist,[br]and I can understand that,

0:14:02.835,0:14:05.835
once again, we're putting[br]pressure on the ontology of music

0:14:05.856,0:14:07.717
as we know it conventionally,

0:14:07.738,0:14:11.659
but let's look at one last piece[br]today I'm going to share with you.

0:14:12.709,0:14:15.373
This is going to be[br]a piece called "Aphasia,"

0:14:15.374,0:14:18.788
and it's for hand gestures[br]synchronized to sound,

0:14:19.153,0:14:23.127
and this invites yet another role,[br]and final one I'll share with you,

0:14:23.127,0:14:25.215
which is that of the choreographer.

0:14:25.235,0:14:27.598
And the score for the piece[br]looks like this,

0:14:27.599,0:14:30.599
and it instructs me,[br]the performer, to make

0:14:32.009,0:14:34.738
various hand gestures[br]at very specific times

0:14:34.739,0:14:36.265
synchronized with an audio tape,

0:14:36.265,0:14:39.869
and that audio tape[br]is made up exclusively of vocal samples.

0:14:39.870,0:14:42.291
I recorded an awesome singer,

0:14:42.292,0:14:44.636
and I took the sound[br]of his voice in my computer,

0:14:44.637,0:14:46.721
and I warped it in countless ways

0:14:46.721,0:14:49.503
to come up with the soundtrack[br]that you're about to hear.

0:14:49.686,0:14:53.779
And I'll perform just an excerpt[br]of "Aphasia" for you here. Okay?

0:14:56.452,0:14:59.452
(Music)

0:15:32.808,0:15:35.808
So that gives you a little taste[br]of that piece. (Applause)

0:15:41.907,0:15:45.557
Thank you. When this ovation dies down,[br]I shall continue.

0:15:47.994,0:15:50.277
Yeah, okay, that's kind of weird stuff.

0:15:50.298,0:15:52.536
Is it music?[br]Here's how I want to conclude.

0:15:53.335,0:15:55.696
I've decided, ultimately,[br]that this is the wrong question,

0:15:55.717,0:15:57.674
that this is not the important question.

0:15:57.675,0:16:00.220
The important question[br]is, "Is it interesting?"

0:16:00.221,0:16:03.221
And I follow this question,[br]not worrying about "Is it music?" -

0:16:03.270,0:16:06.270
not worrying about the definition[br]of the thing that I'm making.

0:16:06.290,0:16:08.051
I allow my creativity to push me

0:16:08.052,0:16:10.338
in directions that are simply[br]interesting to me,

0:16:10.358,0:16:13.260
and I don't worry[br]about the likeness of the result

0:16:13.261,0:16:15.316
to some notion, some paradigm,

0:16:15.317,0:16:18.305
of what music composition[br]is supposed to be,

0:16:18.306,0:16:20.748
and that has actually[br]urged me, in a sense,

0:16:20.749,0:16:22.943
to take on a whole bunch[br]of different roles,

0:16:22.943,0:16:24.958
and so what I want you to think about is,

0:16:24.958,0:16:27.816
to what extent might you change[br]the fundamental question

0:16:27.837,0:16:30.559
in your discipline, and, okay,

0:16:30.560,0:16:32.989
I'm going to put one extra[br]little footnote in here,

0:16:32.990,0:16:34.752
because, like, I realized I mentioned

0:16:34.772,0:16:37.488
some psychological defects[br]earlier, and we also,

0:16:37.489,0:16:40.489
along the way, had a fair amount[br]of obsessive behavior,

0:16:41.232,0:16:44.192
and there was some delusional[br]behavior and things like that,

0:16:44.192,0:16:46.813
and here I think we could say[br]that this is an argument

0:16:46.813,0:16:49.062
for self-loathing[br]and a kind of schizophrenia,

0:16:49.062,0:16:50.998
at least in the popular use of the term,

0:16:50.998,0:16:54.132
and I really mean dissociative[br]identity disorder, okay. (Laughter)

0:16:54.132,0:16:56.383
Anyway, despite those perils,[br]I would urge you

0:16:56.383,0:16:59.150
to think about the possibility[br]that you might take on roles

0:16:59.150,0:17:01.332
in your own work,[br]whether they are neighboring

0:17:01.332,0:17:03.739
or far-flung[br]from your professional definition.

0:17:03.739,0:17:07.365
And with that, I thank you very much.[br](Applause)