4’33” Is the Only Piece I Can Play on Piano

10 questions. 15 collaborators. 1 ghost.

4’33” Is the Only Piece I Can Play on Piano is a polyphonic score that weaves together voices to explore memory, dreams, and language and is presented using bone conduction technology. This piece was inspired by Pina Bausch’s process of asking her dancers questions and using their answers to create choreographies and by John Cage’s theories of silence, especially his famous piece 4’33”.

Contributors to this project submitted answers to questions that ranged from the straightforward, “What can you say in another language?”, to the more surreal, “How do you stand next to someone who isn’t there?” The goal was to create a polyphonic, multi-generational experiment that brings together disparate voices while the artist exists in the silences, in the choreography of the voices.

The artist extends her deepest thanks to her contributors for their words and time: Amy Bartlett, Brett Bell, Erika Buechner, Amanda Dawn Christie, Mireille Eagan, Enrique Ferreol, Alison Gayton, Trevor Goodwin, Karla Hayward, Jessica Hiemstra, Justine Koroscil, Heather Leigh, Moy Mah, Lorne Power, and Ceci Snow.

The artist would also like to thank Jonathan St-Pierre from Université de Moncton’s Engineering Department and Mathieu Léger for their technical support and expertise.