| Category: | Musical composition |
| Dated: | 1942 |
| Instrumentation: | Prepared piano |
| Duration: | 2' |
| Premiere and performer(s): | October 20, 1942 |
| Other performances: | * April 12-13, 1950. Connecticut College for Women, New London, CT. John Cage, piano. Performed with Cunningham choreography * April 26, 1950. Plays and Players Auditorium, Philadelphia, PA. John Cage, piano. Performed with choreography * May 14, 1950. Theresa L. Kaufmann Concert Hall. Young Men's Hebrew Association, New York. John Cage, piano. Performed with choreography * April 12, 1951. Meany Hall, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Performed with Cunningham choreography |
| Dedicated to: | |
| Choreography: | Merce Cunningham: Totem Ancestor (1942) |
| Published: | Edition Peters 6762 © 1960 by Henmar Press. Also published in "Works for Piano, Prepared Piano and Toy Piano, Volume 4: 1933-1952". Edition Peters 68030 © 2005. |
| Manuscript: | Draft (holograph, signed, in ink, with annotations in black, red and purple pencil - 2p.); Directions for duplication (typescript - 1 lf.); Design for unused title page (holograph - 1 lf.), all in New York Public Library |
| 11 Notes are prepared with screws, bolts, weather stripping and a free-rattling nut. The piece was written
for the dance by Merce Cunningham and follows the phraseology of it. |