Improvisation Rites: from John Cage's 'Song Books' to the Scratch Orchestra's 'Nature Study Notes'. Collective practices 2011 - 2017 - Paperback

An account of an intergenerational project that used my experience of The Scratch Orchestra (1969 - 72) to work with a younger generation of people. We started by doing two performances of John Cage's magnum opus 'Song Books'. Then we worked with the improvisation rites in Cornelius Cardew's collective work 'Nature Study Notes'. This book documents the collective process and the performances. It also includes assessment by the participants and an afterglow in which Carole Finer and I were invited to do workshops and a performance in Documenta 14 in Athens. Includes photography and artwork along with textual material and links to online audio recordings.

Reviewers said:

"If you are interested in the role of experimental art in England as I am, then this book is worth a read." Simon Poulter UK
"It's to Stefan Szczelkun's enormous credit that he's revived these pieces. It's to the enormous credit of those in TGTIRTSOBCC [the collective of performers] that they made it happen" tENTATIVELY, cONVENIENCE USA
"I've read a very important book. For what my opinion is worth, I strongly recommend this reading!" Proposte Sonore Giovanni Antognozzi, ITALY