The Start

I first heard of John Cage in 1973 when Milos Velimirovich, one of only three Byzantine Chant scholars in the US at the time, heard my music and told me that I should not be studying music at the University of Virginia, where he was Head of the Music Department, but that I should be studying with John Cage.

Milos Velimirovich

I read six of Cage's books. The first was Notations. The radical nature of this work was revolutionizing. Notations contains over 300 hundred one-page examples of contemporary music.

        

 

This book gave me direction and courage. I could now notate the music I was hearing...(See the below score for, "The Angry Man”, which is still performed, regularly, 47 years later)

The Angry Man

Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced album was very influential in my life, so I left the University of Virginia and went on the road as traveling musician for four years, as Hendrix had.

Jimi Hendrix

In early 1976, frustrated with the road and with the arrogance of youth, I wrote John Cage and said simply "Beethoven studied with Hayden, you studied with Schoenberg, therefore I should study with you". He said "No"...in a letter that is still on my wall today.

                                                                       Hayden

                                                                        Beethoven

                                                                       Schoenberg