Improvisation Rites: from John Cage's 'Song Books' to the Scratch Orchestra's 'Nature Study Notes'. Collective practices 2011 - 2017

An account of an intergenerational project that used my experience of The Scratch Orchestra (1969 - 72) to work with a younger generation of people. We started by doing two performances of John Cages magnum opus Song Books. Then we worked with the improvisation rites in Cornelius Cardews collective work Nature Study Notes. This book documents the collective process and the performances. It also includes assessment by the participants and an afterglow in which Carole Finer and I were invited to do workshops and a performance in Documenta 14 in Athens. Includes photography and artwork along with textual material and links to online audio recordings. Reviewers said: If you are interested in the role of experimental art in England as I am then this book is worth a read. Simon Poulter UK Its to Stefan Szczelkuns enormous credit that hes revived these pieces. Its to the enormous credit of those in TGTIRTSOBCC [the collective of performers] that they made it happen tENTATIVELY cONVENIENCE USA Ive read a very important book. For what my opinion is worth I strongly recommend this reading! Proposte Sonore Giovanni Antognozzi ITALY