Teach Me to Play 1948 is a 17 minute recording of a live performance showing the process of learning and teaching without verbal communication. Through silent instruction and visual repetition I learned the imported knowledge.
The act of learning, stretched through performance opens a dialectical exchange without words to promote new meanings and possible reads. Off-key playing, intentional or unintentional musical errors, push the limit of Cage’s original score beyond its signification to a larger political history of the year it was made.
Do you play Piano? Can you teach me how to play this piece? I said.
A piece from 1948? They said.
Yes, ‘Dream from 1948’ by John Cage. I said.