Watermusic II: On transmodal sound, water perfume, and perfumed water
Theories on dissolution, aquatic notes, and perfume's slouch towards liquidity
On February 24, 1960 composer, hyper-instrumentalist, and mushroom collector John Cage performed ‘Water Walk’ on "I’ve Got a Secret:" a loosely structured American game show. It is played somewhat for laughs at first, as Cage gingerly proclaims his instruments will include a whistle, a sprinkling can, a rubber duck, and a bathtub. As the performance proceeds, Cage utilizes a number of household objects in unconventional ways, interacting on and around water to produce an assembly of sounds. My wording here is particular, as what Cage does is indeed the slapstick assembly (bringing together) of Schaefferian sound-objects along the axis of recorded time. In his own way, this arrangement is deliberate. Water Walk works from a precomposed visual score: a performative map drawn out in which visual artifacts are designed to be loosely interpolated. Cage is not the only one to have performed this work, and indeed no two performances can or should ever be the same, as both the actions themselves and their outcomes are not wholly predetermined.