Li

Given the resounding 'success' of my Po, Li, & Ou texts, it was 'inevitable' that I make movie versions of them. & what better way to do so than by having them typed using Mark Dixon & Fred Snider's SELECTRIC PIANO? The Selectric typewriter was the creme de là creme of typewriters in the 1970s b/c it used interchangeable font balls instead of just having one fixed font. I even rented one in 1977 to type my 1st bk in preparation for its publishing. Of course, in this day & age of almost immediate pre-planned obsolescence, the Selectric is now 'out-moded' in contrast to computers & whatnot. However, many fogeys, young & old, find such obsolescence wasteful & continue to use such objects & devices. Enter Mark Dixon, repurposer extraordinaire. Mark had the brilliant idea of making each of the Selectric's 88 key positions correspond to & control each of the 88 keys on a piano - here, an electric piano - & Fred Snider added his technical expertise to make it possible. SO, typing the highly formally restrictive "Li" text & some of its explanatory material produces a unique aural correlative. Such assignments of notes to letters has, of course, precedents - such as in Jackson MacLow's 1974 "A VOCABULARY FOR PETER INNISFREE MOORE". Remote-controlling of pianos (& other instruments) also has a long & interesting history - such as in the player piano work of Conlon Nancarrow, the work of Richard Tietelbaum, Alec Bernstein, Dan Carney, & many others. HOWEVER, I think that Mark's particular remote-control system is particularly reMARKable. Thanks to Jodi Staley for her perseverance as typist here. The hrs that she put into the overall span of typing were much more grueling than might initially appear to be the case - esp in this short edit. People wishing further textual info about the "Li" text can find it online @: http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/62010-po-li-ou?chapter=2 ; & online (thanks to Alan Sondheim) @: http://cyberculture.zacha.org/archive/Week-of-Mon-20091207/008531.html ; & in printed matter form in RAMPIKE MAGAZINE (Vol. 19 / No. 1): http://web4.uwindsor.ca/rampike - June 11, 2010E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Li
• SELECTRIC Piano
• Mark Dixon
• Jodi Staley
• tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE
• remote-controlled piano
• OuLiPo
• PoLiOu
• Fred Snider
• Selectric typewriter