Eric Parren (DMA ’12) had a solo show last week where he exhibited three works based off of John Cage’s 1957 composition, Radio Music. I was there to catch him opening up the grad gallery and snapped a few pictures of his work. Front and center was one of his reinterpretations where an automated system individually tuned eight different radios according to the original Cage composition. Not pictured was his internet radio version playing through headphones.

That last pic is one of Eric’s scores for Part 1 of Reinterpreting Radio Music. Attendees were asked to plug in their mp3 devices and play along for a six minute period. You can see the piece in the video below. Eric explains:

In Reinterpreting Radio Music, part I – MP3 Music the audience is asked to fulfill the role of the performer. The radios are replaced by the personal mp3 players most people carry around with them in the form of a phone or ipod. Participants are asked to set the playback mode on their device to shuffle and are given a score with instructions on when to skip, play or pause. The resulting soundscape is an eclectic mix of the participant’s personal taste in music. The performance is a reflection upon the fact that people nowadays carry hours and hours of music with them in their pockets for private consumption. Reinterpreting Radio Music, part I – MP3 Music liberates this music and places it in the context of a collective performance where it becomes part of a bigger musical piece exploring individual music preference in relation to that of a group in a defined place and time.