The Beginning of Happiness

In the compositional phase, the construction of the score can be judged “right”
or “wrong” (for instance, complying with the relevant theory by either avoid-
ing parallel fifths or using them); this roughly approximates Austin’s “true”
and “false.” The performer may also be “right” or “wrong,” depending upon
the compliance with (or defiance of ) the score directions. “Right” and “wrong”
judgements, however, can be confused with the aesthetic range from “good” to
“bad.” The distinction between “happy” and “unhappy,” for all its emotional
connotations, does not refer to an innate quality, like “right” and “wrong.” It
refers instead to whether a performance is appropriate to the score—a much
more malleable and contextual judgement. Since the bulk of the information
in text and graphic notation is performative, we will use this distinction to
explain the limits of some sample pieces.

exemplifying the possible and impossible

Along with physical notation types, ideas, their transmission, and division of
labour, and range of performance happiness, music in text and graphic nota-
tion is affected by the social context of the piece. Approaches could change in
time, or in response to conflicting directions. Bright’s Balkan Sobranie instru-
mentation originally used tobacco tins that were tapped and shaken, reflecting
its title and subject (a proprietary brand of loose tobacco), but this did not
appear in the score. The instruction on the Four Systems score indicates that
it can be read “either side up,” presumably meaning either as published (with
the title at the top of the page) or upside down (title at the bottom). Some of
my experimental notation students laid the score on its side when perform-
ing. Was the sidelong performance unhappy? The students read from top to
bottom, or from bottom to top, so the order of events was unchanged in the
sidelong view. Further, the instruction on the score is inconsistent with the
prefatory note for Four Systems in Brown’s collection Folio. The prefatory note
refers the performer to his earlier graphic score, December 1952 (Brown website,
2), which allows performance readings from all four sides. Being older, I never
would have performed the score on its side, although it is perfectly readable
and recalls the punched holes in a pianola roll. The students, however, found
this aspect natural, as they were accustomed to the “note highway” vertical
presentation of rhythm-action video games such as Guitar Hero.
Sometimes, like 4’33”, different editions change the range of possibilities.
Christopher Hobbs’s Improvisation Rite CH27 reads:

… watch what you are doing. Do nothing./Occasionally, raise your head and watch
someone./If they raise their head and watch you,/play for a short time,/watching what
you are doing. If while you are/watching what you are doing, doing nothing,/you feel
that someone is watching you,/play for a short time,/watching what you are doing or/
raise your head and watch the person who is/watching you. If someone is watching
you,/play for a short time./If no-one is watching you. …(Cardew, ed. 1969, 4)

This instruction text was published in the 1969 Scratch Orchestra collection
Nature Study Notes. CH27 is a classification number (analogous to an opus

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