[This text was written for a booklet accompanying a performance in Potenza, Italy of John Cage’s\u00a0<\/em>A dip in the lake. The piece was done as a recording, based on field recordings made at 427 locations in and around Potenza.]<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAt the very least, it was an excuse for us to wander around the area we lived in and explore some places we were not familiar with and re-examine some places we knew quite well.\u201d (Robert Pleshar, on creating his recording of A dip in the lake<\/em>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The first thing I did after Stefano Zorzanello told me about this performance of John Cage\u2019s A dip in the lake<\/em> was to look up Potenza on Google Maps. \u00a0The second thing I did was to see if the city is on a lake, but found that Potenza is on a mountain: the closest lake is several kilometers away. So the title of the piece may seem strange.<\/p>\n The piece was originally written for performance in Chicago, so the lake in question is Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes of North America. In English, a \u201cdip in the lake\u201d would mean to go for a short swim, perhaps to cool off on a hot day. \u00a0To take a quick dip in the lake is a way to refresh and energize yourself.<\/p>\n In much the same way, Cage\u2019s music is a way of refreshing and energizing ourselves. What Cage insists upon is that we drop our habits and listen with a mind that is open and free. And what do we hear? We hear what is present at that moment with curiosity and, perhaps, delight.<\/p>\n After hearing music by Cage, it is like exiting a movie theater: the world seems more vividly itself. Then you don\u2019t need recordings and you don\u2019t need a list of 427 place names. You don\u2019t need a map. You don\u2019t even need to go anywhere. This music is right next to you, all the time, invisible, waiting to be revealed.<\/p>\n Griggstown, 7 December 2012<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [This text was written for a booklet accompanying a performance in Potenza, Italy of John Cage’s\u00a0A dip in the lake. The piece was done as a recording, based on field recordings made at 427 locations in and around Potenza.] \u201cAt the very least, it was an excuse for us to wander around the area we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":841,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,64],"class_list":["post-695","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-cage","tag-cage-2","tag-dip-in-the-lake"],"yoast_head":"\n