Amanda Agnew

6/28/14

Meredith Monk An Innovator

Over time music is destined to change. Within the history of American music
Meredith Monk plays an important role. Born November of 1942 throughout her lifetime
Monk has brought about different degrees of innovation. Compared to her one of her
contemporaries John Cage, Monks art went down a different road. Her creativity took
musical art and production above and beyond what was happening during this time. Based
off of their creative processes and performance structure it is very clear seeing the
differences between the two composers during this time in history. Both made tremendous
strides in the music world during this time. Seeing how their art came to be supports my idea
of Meredith Monk as an American innovator.
During her lifetime Monk wore many different hats. She titled herself a composer not
limiting her output to only musical works. Monk is a well-known vocalist, composer,
director, and choreographer. She was born in New York into a musical family. Though her
fathers side lacked musical influence her mothers side provided more than enough. Her
mother provided Monks main influence into music. Her mother was a radio singer through
the thirties and forties, and because of this Meredith Monk grew up in radio studios and
control rooms. Along with her grandfather being a classical singing bass-baritone and
grandmother a concert pianist. Her exposure to music from many family members influenced
her to go into the profession. She became a classically trained musician and wanted to sing
opera, but wanted to sing the tenor part. That just was not going to happen so she branched

off becoming a successful performer and composer in many forms. As she states in her
Duckworth interview movement did not come easy for her. She spent a lot of time partaking
in Dalcroze eurhythmics in order to achieve free flowing movement within her body.
Without her musical exposure from her family and her own time investment into Dalcroze
eurhythmic movement Monk may have never become the great composer we know her to be
today.
As an artist Monk did a lot. In addition to her many varying styles of compositions
Monk also invested time into developing the methods of interdisciplinary performance and
extended vocal technique. She founded The House in 1968. The House became a hub for her
interdisciplinary performance teachings. She then founded the Meredith Monk & Vocal
Ensemble. This ensemble is a group of vocalists, instrumentalists, dancers, and new music
enthusiasts. They are international performers and Grammy award nominated. What Monks
works brought to the table that many composers did not was a performance art aspect.
Performance art can be defined or presented to an audience by the artist. In Monks case this
incorporated her music. Monks solo/duet and ensemble works have a natural bodied
influence to them. Due to Monks formal vocal training her music for herself and her
ensembles has an effortless natural humanistic quality to it. Her music lacks formal lyrics,
but is staged purposefully for performance spaces. Everything for her special performance
pieces are meticulously mapped out for the acoustical setting of the room. Some of her
notable works are Impermanence, Songs of Ascension, and Politics of Quiet. Not to mention
solo/duet works such as Gotham Lullaby and Hocket. While experiencing Monks works they
show slow subtle progressions over time in the musical aspect, while the performance art

aspect can be disjunctive not necessarily fitting to the tune. With her immense creativity she
has won countless awards, and is currently the in resident composer at Carnegie Hall for the
2014-15 season, while also celebrating her 50th year producing works. Monk has influenced
artists such as Bjork, Zorn, and DJ SPOOKY. When listening and examining these artists
there were many characteristics of Monks works embedded in their work. The sound had
similar theme of progression of the music over the total time elapsed. As well as all of them
having vivid visual aesthetics added to their music.
A contemporary of Monk at this time was John Cage. Cage over his career was
known for being a composer, writer, music theorist, and an artist. He was a Los Angelis,
California native. Growing up his influence into music was through his father. Rather his
father was not a musician at all, but he was an inventor. Cages father being an inventor
watching him daily in his work opened up his mind. Cage did study piano until 1931 before
deciding to travel to study his musical dreams. Cage traveled to Europe studying with a few
different teachers before ultimately studying with Schoenberg. He then realized that the way
he would create music was as an inventor. He went against the grain of typical composition
in many ways. He then moved to New York and became a part of the four New York School
composers during the forties. Cage was producing controversially seen music throughout his
career. He used instruments out of proper performance manner, unusual sounds, and natural
sounds occurring in action as a medium.
Cages works broke boundaries to the question What is Music?. Everything he
created forced you to think far beyond the western standard classification of music. As an
inventor of music his perspective of beauty in music was different than societies. His works

were purposefully written for the audience members/listeners to find their own interpretation
of what the piece of music meant. For example his work 433 even to this day is still under
much question. This work broke the boundaries of what the world saw as music. It being a
completely silent piece for the duration of 433 it forced audiences to think and examine the
sounds occurring around them. Many of his other works such as the John Cage Aria, 000,
Sonatas for prepared piano, etc. made you think about music differently because of the way it
was composed and presented. His works have made him internationally known and he has
won many awards including the Guggenheim fellowship award.
Both Monk and Cage were producing at the same time in the same region and shared
some of the same ideas. These composers felt that there is music within natural sound. Monk
and Cage utilized the aspect of vocal freedom in their works. Both composers were not afraid
of instrumental incorporation as well. They both persevered through the creation process to
produce works that went beyond the western approach to musical production. Within the idea
of classifying these artists they both fall under minimalist/ avant garde.
They have more contrasting qualities than comparative ones. Their approach to music
was completely different. Monks classical training made the production of her music very
technically correct. Whereas Cage created music that was cool sounding or made a point
rather than having a solid basis of musical technique. Both composers Duckworth interviews
touched upon their musical upbringing. They both had classical training, but Monk enjoyed
hers and Cage found himself uninterested in the basics of understanding scales. This is where
the divide in their creative process begins. While Monk continued her training as a child
Cage explored the unvirtuosic. By this I mean Cage explored more means of purposeful

creation of music that went displayed sound as music opposed to seeing music as a sound. A
majority of Cages works were so avant garde in style that they were seen as controversial at
this time. On the other hand Monks performances occurred with no issue. The up rise of
minimalist avant garde art was something that society was adjusting to. Stemming away from
familiar western traditions left a lot of room for criticism. Their sounds were also vastly
different. Cage was there for more of a shock value of expression. In my interpretation it was
to make sound the star and have the people think because it was so different question their
sense of musical recognition. Monks sound however progressed over time. It may have
started out rough but over time it softened becoming a whimsical expression of emotion.
Putting on their performances was another huge difference between the two composers put
on works. Monks works were precise down to the most minor of details. Nothing was on
accident and everything that went out onto the stage either it be the music, dance, lighting,
stage effects etc. was specifically chosen for that composition. Cage had this idea of
indeterminacy. This idea propelled his works productions throughout time. Indeterminacy is
the idea that his works would never be performed the same exact way twice. These are two
completely different approaches to displaying their art.
It is easy to say that Meredith Monk was an American innovator. To say one is an
innovator you must know what exactly an innovator is. An innovator is a person who brings
about new ideas and methods of doing something. Monk did this tenfold throughout her
career. Not only as a composer, but as a women composer she created such success for
herself and continues to do so even to this day. Her devotion to composition in many forms
set her aside from many others during this time period. Having the addition of a visual

performance to her music furthered her as an artist. Being able to watch the flow of the
movement, staging, and music create an experience for the viewer in a way that was able not
to cause commotion. Monks creative genius is a mystifying process that many may never
comprehend, but it is respectable. Her instinctive nature was a driving force in her creative
process. She claims it only gets harder with the more life you live influencing her process.
Another thing Monk has learned is that expression can be expressed in many ways. She
refers to her earlier sound as edgy because thats how she saw her expression to be. Monk
did not want her expressions to sound beautiful, but evoke differently. As she has grown as
an artist she has come to realize that expression can be beautiful. Monks ideas do not stem
from a single type of influence. She sometimes seeks influence and other times it just
appears. Her music can stem from a line, melody, or concept appearing into her head. Its a
seed to grow into a larger work. She started out with nothing but an idea. Originally she
most likely did not seek out to be the name she is today. Her desire of self-expression is what
drove her in her compositional endeavors. Monks remarkable growth from solo work to
female vocal ensemble works then growing again encompassing voices, instruments, and
dancers of varying kinds and degrees prove that composition is not limited to music, but to
an array of different outlets of expression. Experimenting

and

creating

these

complex

multiple art faceted productions provided a basis for many modern artists today.
In American musical history there were a lot of people who arose to differentiate
themselves from the norm. We call those people innovators. During the 1960/70s there were
many composers an artists that pushed creative boundaries in order to achieve selfexpression. Meredith Monk and John Cage were some of those artists, but they had different

interpretations on how to evoke what they wanted. Both Monk and Cage are classified as the
same style of artist, but their art was almost nothing alike. They did share their love for
sound as music, but took contrasting approaches in receiving that type of sound. Both
internationally famous composers did wonderful things, just in different ways. Monk
however managed to create art that encompassed more than a single medium of expression.
Her works contain vocal music, dance, instrumental music, and effects to give an entire
performance. Monk being a classically trained and still practicing classical vocalist highly
influences the way she creates, while Cage stopped his classical piano training shortly after
its start. Cage also was an indeterminacy artist. This left a majority of the deciphering of the
music/art to the performer and audience. Compared to Cage, Monks productions were
planned to smallest detail of the exact number of performers to works being written for
specific concert venues. It is easy to classify artists in the same category, but never explore
them further discovering their vast differences. Monk as a composer, vocalist, and group
performer has impacted generations to come. It is easy to see her influence within the works
of Bjork, Zorn, and DJ SPOOKY. Her influence to those and many others is not limited to
their music, but they have also adopted her incorporation of visual aesthetics into their works
as well. Monk is able to make her expression portrayal beautiful to not only your ears with
her music, but with your whole soul with the visual aspects. The ability to do this is not an
easy task. Monk doing this so successfully and molding what we can see as natural
expression makes her an innovator in solo, duet, and ensemble works.

Works Cited

"Artist: John Cage." Lovely Music Ltd. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 June 2014.
<http://www.lovely.com/bios/cage.html>.
Carey, Dr. Christian B. and Classmates. "American Innovators." TWTH 3:15-4:30. Talbot
4/5. 20/05/14- 19/06/14
Duckworth, William. Talking Music: Conversations with John Cage, Philip Glass, Laurie
Anderson, and Five Generations of American Experimental Composers. New York:
Schirmer, 1995. Print.
John Cage. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 June 2014. <http://johncage.org/>.
Meredith Monk. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://www.meredithmonk.org/>.
"Richard and Barbara Debs Composers Chair: Meredith Monk." Carnegie Hall. N.p., n.d.
Web. 22 June 2014.< http://www.carnegiehall.org/monk/>