Child of Tree John Cage Percussion Solo

Geoff Dunbar playing John Cages' Child of Tree for Solo percussion. This is the Senior Recital for Mr. Dunbar in 1993 at University of Redlands. This came from an old VHS tape, sorry for any glitches or video weirdness. Enjoy. I hope to keep this music alive, thus I have used the YouTube to allow it to live on in cyberspace. BTW, the first instrument Mr. Dunbar plays is called an UDU. Also featured, though quite hard to hear, is the infamous AMPLIFIED CACTUS. This composition is mainly instructions and the use of the iChing. Also some call this piece Branches.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Child
• of
• Tree
• John
• Cage
• Geoff
• Dunbar
• percussion
• 20th
• century
• cactus

[1337frog]

i still wonder how the cactus is actually used...

[gkdstudios]

hard to see, but the instructions simply say to pluck the tines of the cactus with your fingers or toothpick. just be careful not to get poked. I had to close-mic my cactus, as I did not know how to install a contact mic onto the cactus. 

[JoeSiren]

Where can I acquire this score? I am absolutely fascinated by this piece after seeing the three recordings of it uploaded here. Great performance, by the way!

[gkdstudios]

@JoeSiren YOu can find the sheet music at most online places, try jwpepper, search by composer John Cage

[gkdstudios]

Yes, an idiophone. Sorry video is so dark, impossible to see the cactus, but it is there. Real hard to hear as well. I think at the end I acknowledge the cactus if you watch closely.

[H4L0K1LL4]

playing the tic-tac?

[drjohnpreston]

i also was looking up idiophones on wikipedia, for a college assignment, and its lead me to this. im still trying to figure out what this cactus business is about

[fibinacialfredo3]

i came here from looking up idiophones on wikipedia, to seeing there was an instrument called an amplified cactus, and that this was one of the pieces written for it. another example of the internet leading you to unexpected places