The Post-Modern Crisis

The ways in which modern musicians try to crack new ground was very inventive as seen in Monday's class. Iannis Xenakis' "Mycenae Alpha" was a great example of this; a machine that interprets his drawings into sound is such a forward thinking idea. Another invention along the same lines was the scoreLight which used laser beams, as dictated by a drawing's shape, to make interesting sounds. To see and hear these inventions work prove that a dead end in the post-modern crisis is not soon approaching.
Stockhausen's "Helicopter String Quartet" was fascinating in that it played with the usual conventions in how music is played and how musicians interact with each other to produce music. Since each violinist was wearing headphones, they were able to capably interact with each other in their playing. I liked how the music echoed the drama of flying in a helicopter itself.