New Musical Resources

An excellent book if you are interested in extended techniques, contemporary composition. I recommended it 100%!

Not only if your a composer, also as generally interested in music as such, this is a very important book from an interesting composer. It's a must have.

Exactly as described thanks

Cowell was a friend of Charles Ives. Both were naturals, instinctual innovators. This book is dated somewhat, but I still give it five stars for its forward vision. Rhythmically Cowell was as important in his ideas as Stravinsky I believe. You'll find all the rhythmic and metrical invention that we see daily in the works of Carter, for instance. There is nothing like it. I highly recommend this for composers.

This book is important in its own rights AND as a source for the John Cage-oriented composer and an origin to the more famous theory texts by Karlheinz Stockhausen (who never mentioned this influence, as far as I know!). It's amazing how advanced a vision the young Cowell had - he began writing the texts in 1916 at the age of 17! Maybe Stockhausen used the theories artistically more satisfying and Cage became more famous, but read the book anyway and - by the way - listen to Cowells music!

While these resources aren't new anymore, I have used some of his ideas as springboards for some of my own compositions. The section on rhythm as well as the section on Tone Combinations were particularly interesting. These are some ideas that I wish would influence music outside of the classical realm more. Too many kids are stuck in a bland world of 4/4 rhythm, and tonal theory learned from half a**ed guitar lessons.

Wenn man verstehen will, welche eigenen Wege die musikalische amerikanische Avantgarde in der 30er Jahren entwickelt hat, führt um Henry Cowells Vision eines neuen Umgangs mit dem Material kein Weg vorbei. Ich war auf der Suche nach den musiktheoretischen Hintergründen für das von ihm entwickelte Instrument "Rhythmicon" und hier findet sich die Antwort. Seine kompositorischen Ideen und sein Umgang mit dem musikalischen Material konnte er mit den traditionellen Instrumenten nicht realisieren. So baute Lew Termen (der mit dem Theremin) ein völlig neuartiges elektronisches Instrument für ihn. Das Büchlein ist gut lesbar und sollte als Ergänzung zu Cowell-Biographien immer zur Hand sein.