Alvin Lucier and Sound – Sitting in a Room

Alvin Lucier was one of many composers that took music to a different level and changed their perspective of composing. He began teaching and creating music after many years of schooling. Lucier was know for making his music as simple as could be. He did this by breaking away from the music of his time which was more electronic music.

Lucier is most well-known for his work title “Sitting in a Room.” In the lecture video, Professor Lasch states that this work is “an unexpected angle” of music and composittion. He compares Lucier’s work to John Cage’s “Empty Words.”

“Empty Words” is based on a word done by Henry Thoreau that is about ten hours long. When John Cage displayed his work, the audience was not acting as he intended. His audience at the concert completely lost focus . Both these composers displayed their original work at the time in a concert setting but had different responses from their audience. Music and sound and be influential and interesting to one person, but not to the person next to them.