This item is not in the library — it is a part of: C. Bergstrøm-Nielsen, Intuitive Music: A Mini Handbook.
(from Cornelius Cardew)
Strong medicine, to be used wisely. Play with your hands tied together on the back. You will have to invent other ways to use instruments than usual, probably also very primitive and awkward ones. Keep this exercise instrumental so that vocalizing is not an easy way out.
I have used this a number of times to effectively shake experienced players out of too much routine. More experimenting and playfulness resulted, and, most interestingly, much more spontaneous interaction.
It is recommended to have a number of pre-cut, short pieces of rope ready in advance. Houdini was a magician famous for his escape shows that could involve handcuffs and similar devices.
The wording above is by Carl Bergstrøm-Nielsen, as written in Intuitive Music: A Mini-Handbook, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 (Bergstrøm-Nielsen 2009, 15)
We don't have another written source which would describe this activity as a work of Cornelius Cardew, but compare with CM-HCR135 from Nature Study Notes — an improvisation rite with physical constraints by rope, which was named a Houdini Rite in Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond (Nyman 1999, 135).
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