The Ten Thousand Things

The Ten Thousand Things is a title given by musicologist James Pritchett to a grand project initiated by John Cage in 1953 involving the composition of independent pieces for various media, each bearing a number title, each capable of being played alone or together with any of the others. Such an open work could be added to constantly, and Cage’s composition remains perpetually “in progress.” This performance brings together five of these pieces, spanning 1953 to 1956, into a chance-determined musical collage: 59 1/2” for a String Player (1953), 45’ for Speaker (1954), 31’ 57.9864” for a Pianist (1954), 26’ 1.1499” for a String Player (1955), and 27’ 10.554” for a Percussionist (1956).