A New Note!

I've long been fascinated by a performance currently going on in the St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany. In 2001, a performance of John Cage's work "Organ2/ASLSP (As Slow aS Possible)" was begun. For the work, Cage did not specific how slow the performer should go, so the four page work often gets played for around an hour. The organizers of this new concert decided that since the organ in the church was built in 1361, or 639 years before the original start date of 200, that the performance should last 639 years. That's right, a musical performance that will late 20 generations.

Thousands of people have flocked to the small church since the first note on September 5, 2001, and I'd love to go for an afternoon. But since I can't go anytime soon (and if I did, Sam would get restless and probably go change the notes on the organ), I'll content myself with giving you this update that last week, on February 5, the seventh change occurred. If you'd like to see it happen, here's a short video from the BBC which covered the event with typical wit.