John Cage and LeJaren Hiller HPSCHD, 1969

John Cage and LeJaren Hiller: HPSCHD, 1969
Stephen Husarik
American Music, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Summer, 1983), pp. 1-21
(article consists of 21 pages)
Published by: University of Illinois Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3051496

HPSCHD received its premiere performance before an audience of 6000 on May 16, 1969 at the Assembly Hall of Urbana Campus, University of Illinois. Conceived as a highly immersive multimedia experience, the performance featured David Tudor, Antoinette Vischer, William Brooks, Ronald Peters, Yūji Takahashi, Neely Bruce and Philip Corner playing harpsichords whose sounds were captured and amplified; 208 tapes with computer-generated sounds played through 52 monaural tape players; and an array of movie and slide projectors used to project 6400 slides and 40 movies onto rectangular screens and a 340 foot circular screen. Many of these images, selected by Ron Nameth and Calvin Sumsion, were borrowed from NASA (the premiere took place just a month prior to the first manned landing on the Moon). The performance, which lasted for about 5 hours, was not intended as a static, unidirectional event, but rather as a hypnotic environment where the audience was encouraged to "move in and out of the building, around the Hall, and through the performing area." During the premiere an image of Beethoven wearing a University of Illinois jersey with Cage's face on it was silkscreened onto paper tunics distributed to members of the audience (and onto audience members' garments, including t-shirts, once the supply of tunics ran out). Three large silkscreened posters were created for the event, two of which featured images chosen by chance operations similar to those used in the composition of the music. Some copies were sold to support the event, each for a different price established using an I Ching chart.