Henry Cowell - Aeolian Harp piece

Henry Cowell was also of Varèse’s generation and an influential leader in the conceptual developments of experimental sound. Cowell is also thought to be one of the earliest 20th Century western composers to study African and Asian musics.
These studies are attributed to his developments in “extending the boundaries of compositional practice in areas of rhythm and timbre” and his unconventional treatment of conventional instruments such as the piano. Cowell’s 1929 theoretical text ‘New Musical Resources’ presented a deconstruction of the binary oppositions of music and noise, where he reasoned, “that the latter is always already contained in the former”. Cowell’s work and deconstructive approach was also particularly influential on John Cage’s oeuvre of chance, indeterminate, cross-disciplinary and prepared piano techniques of composition. Cowell perhaps also incited Cage’s investigations of Zen concepts and aesthetics, particularly the Zen concept of contradiction. (Cox and Warner, 2005, 22-27). Cowell and Cage’s cross-disciplinary approach and cross-referencing of ‘other’ non-western cultures extended boundaries and enabled the deconstruction of the conventional (western) application of instruments and music theory. This poly-cultural and poly-disciplinary dynamic has
behavioural qualities much like the challenges the art-like activities have proliferated and imposed on conventions/codes in this current digital and internet age.

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