Danger music
Encyclopedia
Danger music is an experimental form of avant-garde
20th and 21st century classical music
. It is based on the concept that some pieces of music can or will harm either the listener or the performer. Since the performances must nearly always be canceled before they can be performed, danger music can also be thought of more as a philosophical or political statement than as a composition of music. For example Takehisa Kosugi’s
composition Music for a Revolutionhttp://www.artnotart.com/fluxus/tkosugi-musicforarev.html directs the performer to gouge out one of his or her eyes five years from now. Works such as this are also sometimes referred to as anti-music because they seem to rebel against the concept of music itself. Danger music is often closely associated with the Fluxus
school of composition, especially the work of Dick Higgins
who composed a series of works entitled Danger Music.
), although it might never reach that point.
Japanese noise band Hanatarash
were notable for their dangerous live shows, the most famous instance being when vocalist Yamantaka Eye
drove a bulldozer through the venue at the back of the stage. There were also reports of audience members being required to fill out waivers before shows to prevent the band or the venue being sued in case of any potential danger caused to them.
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
20th and 21st century classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
. It is based on the concept that some pieces of music can or will harm either the listener or the performer. Since the performances must nearly always be canceled before they can be performed, danger music can also be thought of more as a philosophical or political statement than as a composition of music. For example Takehisa Kosugi’s
Takehisa Kosugi
is a Japanese composer and violinist associated with the Fluxus movement.Kosugi studied musicology at the Tokyo University of the Arts and graduated in 1962....
composition Music for a Revolutionhttp://www.artnotart.com/fluxus/tkosugi-musicforarev.html directs the performer to gouge out one of his or her eyes five years from now. Works such as this are also sometimes referred to as anti-music because they seem to rebel against the concept of music itself. Danger music is often closely associated with the Fluxus
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
school of composition, especially the work of Dick Higgins
Dick Higgins
Dick Higgins was a composer, poet, printer, and early Fluxus artist. Higgins was born in Cambridge, England, but raised in the United States in various parts of New England, including Worcester, Massachusetts, Putney, Vermont, and Concord, New Hampshire.Like other Fluxus artists, Higgins studied...
who composed a series of works entitled Danger Music.
Danger Music in performance
Although many extreme examples of danger music direct performers to use sounds so loud that they will deafen the participants, or ask performers to throw antipersonnel bombs into the audience, danger music can also be used in a more mundane way. For instance a piece could be written in which the volume of the music steadily increases causing the audience to fear that it will make them defecate in their trousers (see Brown noteBrown note
The brown note is a theoretical infrasonic frequency that would cause humans to lose control of their bowels due to resonance. There is no scientific evidence to support the claim that a "brown note" exists....
), although it might never reach that point.
Japanese noise band Hanatarash
Hanatarash
Hanatarashi , meaning "sniveler" or "snot-nosed" in Japanese, was a noise band created by later Boredoms frontman Yamantaka Eye and featured Zeni Geva guitarist Mitsuru Tabata. The outfit was formed in Osaka, Japan in 1984 after Eye and Tabata met as stage hands at an Einstürzende Neubauten show...
were notable for their dangerous live shows, the most famous instance being when vocalist Yamantaka Eye
Yamantaka Eye
, real name , born February 13, 1964 in Kobe, is a Japanese vocalist and visual artist, best known as a member of Boredoms. He has changed his name three times, from Yamatsuka Eye, to Yamantaka Eye, to Yamataka Eye, and sometimes calls himself eYe or EYヨ...
drove a bulldozer through the venue at the back of the stage. There were also reports of audience members being required to fill out waivers before shows to prevent the band or the venue being sued in case of any potential danger caused to them.
See also
- 20th century classical music20th century classical music20th century classical music was without a dominant style and highly diverse.-Introduction:At the turn of the century, music was characteristically late Romantic in style. Composers such as Gustav Mahler and Jean Sibelius were pushing the bounds of Post-Romantic Symphonic writing...
- Contemporary music
- Experimental musicExperimental musicExperimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
- Noise musicNoise musicNoise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
- Chris BurdenChris BurdenChristopher "Chris" Burden is an American artist working in performance, sculpture, and installation art.-Education:Burden studied for his B.A...