"A Lecture on Transitions" is also a preliminary artistic work that inspired my work with preparing a buzzing violin. A Lecture on Transitions is the first part of a two part work. The second part is "Essay on Buzzing Strings". They are both artistic works that relate my artistic work and personal life at each of those specific moments.
Part of my fascination with the concept of the “buzzing string” came when I was writing a piece for bray harp (a harp that dates from the 14th -17th century). Bray pins were fitted on to each string of a bray harp, and served to create a buzz on individual strings to make the string resonate and louder. Brays eventually went out of fashion as harps became larger and more resonant with the body, brays were seen as passe or ugly and went out of style.
1 Thoreau, Henry David, et al. Journal. Vol. 1, Dover Publications, 1962
2 Cage, John. Empty Words. Wesleyan University Press, 1979, 4.
3 Thoreau, Henry David, et al. Journal. Vol. 1, Dover Publications, 1962, 64.
4 ibid., 66.
5 Joyce, James. Finnegans Wake. Penguin Books, 2023, 44.
6 Cage, John. “‘Mureau’ (1971–72).” M: Writings, 1967-1972, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT, 1974.
7 Empty Words,1.
8 Empty Words, 51.
