Inventaire d’une Water Yam / Inventory of one Water Yam

De la fin des années 1950 au milieu des années 1960, George Brecht compose la longue série
des event-scores, des partitions-textes imprimées sur des cartes de différentes tailles qu’il
regroupe à partir de 1963 dans des boîtes appelées « Water Yam ». Le contenu de chaque
boîte varie d’un exemplaire à l’autre et selon les éditions. L’inventaire qui suit est celui d’un
exemplaire datant de 1963 (15,3 x 16,5 x 4,4 cm ; éditeur George Maciunas ; Fluxus Edition,
New York), conservé au département des Estampes et de la photographie de la Bibliothèque
nationale de France. Cet exemplaire de la « Water Yam » contient un lot de 51 fiches de taille
variable imprimées sur un papier bristol d’environ 300g. Le papier est jauni par le temps. La
police de caractères s’apparente à une fonte sans empattement de type DIN 1451 (nous
respectons la casse du texte imprimé). La date de chaque event reprend la chronologie
proposée par Herman Braun, « George Brecht Event Scores In Three Waves », dans le
catalogue Events, A Heterospective. L’index ne correspond qu’à l’ordre dans lequel nous
avons trouvé les fiches au moment de l’inventaire.
From the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, George Brecht composed the long series of event-
scores, a set of text-compositions printed on cards of different sizes. In 1963, he started
collecting them in boxes called “Water Yam”. The content of each box varies, depending on
the copy and the publication. The following inventory was based on a 1963 copy (15,3 x 16,5
x 4,4 cm; Publisher: George Maciunas; Fluxus Edition, New York), kept in the Department of
Prints and Photography of the French National Library. This copy of the “Water Yam”
contains a set of 51 cards of variable sizes printed on approximately 300g Bristol board. The
paper is yellowed with age. The font is similar to a DIN 1451 sans-serif typeface (we respect
the case of the printed text). The date of each event comes from Herman Braun's chronology,
“George Brecht Event Scores In Three Waves”, in the catalog Events, A Heterospective. The
sole purpose of the index is to give the order in which we found the cards at the time of the
inventory.
Matthieu Saladin
- Card WY01, 66 x 40 mm, May 1963, text:
REALIZATION
• emotion music
- Card WY02, 100 x 63 mm, February 1963, text:
NO SMOKING EVENT
Arrange to observe a NO SMOKING sign
• smoking
• no smoking
- Card WY03, 75 x 90 mm, May 1962, text:
3 TABLE AND CHAIR EVENTS
• newspaper
• game
 plate
knife
• fork
spoon
glass
- Card WY04, 78 x 50 mm, April 1963, text:
INSTRUCTION
• Turn on a radio.
At the first sound, turn it off.
- Card WY05, 76 x 66 mm, September 1962, text:
CONCERTO FOR CLARINET
• Nearby
G. Brecht
1962
- Card WY06, 65 x 50 mm, June 1963, text:
TWO CLOCKS
• clothes hooks
• bird flight
- Card WY07, 65 x 50 mm, June 1963, text:
MIRROR
• reflecting
• reflecting
- Card WY08, 65 x 50 mm, December 1962, text:
EVENT
• pulse start
• pulse stop
- Card WY09, 65 x 90 mm, August 1961, text:
SIX EXHIBITS
• ceiling
 • first wall
• second wall
• third wall
• fourth wall
• floor
Summer, 1961
- Card WY10, 65 x 65 mm, June 1963, text:
THREE BROOM EVENTS
• broom
• sweeping
• broom sweepings
- Card WY11, 65 x 67 mm, November 1962, text:
THREE ARRANGEMENTS
• on the shelf
• on a clothes tree
• black object
white chair
- Card WY12, 67 x 66 mm, April 1962, text:
STRING QUARTET
• shaking hands
G. Brecht
1962
- Card WY13, 64 x 67 mm, March 1963, text:
TWO APPROXIMATIONS
(
obituary
)
- Card WY14, 67 x 64 mm, May 1962, text:
ORGAN PIECE
 • organ
G. Brecht
1962
- Card WY15, 65 x 64 mm, August 1961, text:
TEA EVENT
preparing
empty vessel
Summer, 1961
- Card WY16, 66 x 39 mm, May 1962, text:
STOOL
on (or near) a stool
- Card WY17, 65 x 38 mm, May 1962, text:
TABLE
• on a white table
- Card WY18, 65 x 50 mm, July 1962, text:
DRESSER
• mirror above
drawers below
- Card WY19, 66 x 66 mm, April 1962, text:
PIANO PIECE, 1962
• a vase of flowers
on (to) a piano
G. Brecht
1962
- Card WY20, 75 x 65 mm, March 1962, text:
SOLO FOR WIND INSTRUMENT
(putting it down)
G. Brecht
1962
- Card WY21 66 x 112 mm, July 1961, text:
THREE LAMP EVENTS
• on.
off.
• lamp
• off. on.
“It is sure to be dark / if you shut your eyes.” (J. Ray)
Summer, 1961
- Card WY22, 65 x 88 mm, June 1963, text:
FIVE EVENTS
• eating with
• between two breaths
• sleep
• wet hand
• several words
- Card WY23, 65 x 88 mm, June 1963, text:
SIX DOORS
• EXIT
• ENTRANCE
• EXIT
ENTRANCE
•
- Card WY24, 90 x 77 mm, May 1962, text:
TABLE
• on a white table
glasses, a puzzle
and
(having to do with smoking)
- Card WY25, 77 x 65 mm, November 1962, text:
 BED EVENT
Discover or arrange:
a white bed
a black item on or near it
- Card WY26, 77 x 66 mm, January 1963, text:
THREE WINDOW EVENTS
opening a closed window
closing an open window
- Card WY27, 98 x 62 mm, March 1962, text:
WHEEL
• Paint the hub white.
Paint the felly black.
Distribute spectral colors on the spokes.
- Card WY28, 77 x 67 mm, December 1962, text:
INTERMISSION
1. hair growing arrangement
(haircut)
2.
- Card WY29, 65 x 66 mm, April 1961, text:
WORD EVENT
• EXIT
G. Brecht
Spring, 1961
- Card WY30, 64 x 65 mm, July 1962, text:
FLUTE SOLO
• disassembling
• assembling
G. Brecht
1962
- Card WY31, 65 x 66 mm, May 1962, text:
STOOL
on a stool
a cane
and a package or bag of
- Card WY32, 67 x 67 mm, September 1962, text:
SAXOPHONE SOLO
• trumpet
G. Brecht
1962
- Card WY33, 78 x 65 mm, September 1961, text:
EXHIBIT SEVEN (CLOCK)
• house number
Summer, 1961
- Card WY34, 78 x 65 mm, July 1961, text:
TWO VEHICLE EVENTS
• start
• stop
Summer, 1961
- Card WY35, 65 x 109 mm, August 1961, text:
THREE DANCES
1.
Saliva
2.
Pause.
Urination.
Pause.
3.
Perspiration.
 Summer, 1961
G. Brecht
- Card WY36, 67 x 113 mm, April 1961, text:
THREE YELLOW EVENTS
I • yellow
• yellow
• yellow
II • yellow
• loud
III • red
to Rose
Spring, 1961
G. Brecht
- Card WY37, 65 x 38 mm, May 1962, text:
TABLE
• table
- Card WY38, 65 x 38 mm, July 1962, text:
SUITCASE
• from a suitcase
- Card WY39, 66 x 39 mm, May 1963, text:
POSITION
• an insect nearby
- Card WY40, 75 x 90 mm, April 1961, text:
THREE GAP EVENTS
• missing-letter sign
• between two sounds
• meeting again
To Ray J.
Spring, 1961
 G. Brecht
- Card WY41, 91 x 65 mm, April 1963, text:
DIRECTION
Arrange to observe a sign indicating direction of travel.
• travel in the indicated direction
• travel in another direction
- Card WY42, 25 x 25 mm, December 1962, text:
• raining
• pissing
- Card WY43, 65 x 65 mm, September 1962, text:
SINK
• on a white sink
toothbrushes
black soap
- Card WY44, 77 x 110 mm, April 1962, text:
CHAIR EVENT
on a white chair
a Christmas-tree ball
flag
can opener
black
and spectral colors
- Card WY45, 119 x 89 mm, January 1962, text:
DRIP MUSIC (DRIP EVENT)
For single or multiple performance.
A source of dripping water and an empty vessel are arranged so that the water falls
into the vessel.
Second version: Dripping.
G. Brecht
(1959-62)
- Card WY46, 119 x 96 mm, March 1961, text:
THREE TELEPHONE EVENTS
• When the telephone rings, it is allowed to continue ringing, until it stops.
• When the telephone rings, the receiver is lifted, then replaced.
• When the telephone rings, it is answered.
Performance note: Each event comprises all occurrences within its duration.
Spring, 1961
- Card WY47, 119 x 123 mm, October 1961, text:
TWO EXERCICES
Consider an object. Call what is not the object “other.”
EXERCICE: Add to the object, from the “other,” another object, to form a new object
and a new “other.” Repeat until there is no more “other.”
EXERCICE: Take a part from the object and add it to the “other,” to form a new
object and a new “other.” Repeat until there is no more object.
Fall, 1961
- Card WY48, 120 x 155 mm, July 1959, text:
[Recto]
CARD-PIECE FOR VOICE
1. There are from 1 to 54 performers. Performers are seated side by side, except for the
“chairman”, a performer who sits facing the others. They rehearse before the
performance to develop common vocables of the four types described below.
2. The chairman holds a deck of ordinary playing cards (four complete suits plus Joker
and Extra Joker). He tosses each card into the air so that it is free to fall face up or face
down, then re-forms the deck and shuffles it, keeping each card in its face-up or face-
down direction.
3. He then deals one card at a time to each performer in turn, including himself, until
all cards have been dealt.
4. There is a second stack of “phoneme cards”, blank cards on each of which a single
phoneme from one or more languages familiar to all performers has been written.
These are shuffled and dealt, face up, on at a time, to each performer in turn, who
keeps them in a stack separate from the playing cards.
5. At a nod from the chairman, each performer takes a playing card from the top of his
sub-deck, performs a sound or not, according to the system of cues given below, and
discards the card. Unless there is a signal from the chairman to repeat, or stop, the
performance, each performer stops at the end of his sub-deck.
[Verso]
6. The Cue System:
Suits: indicate the “vocal” organ primarily responsible for the sound production.
Hearts: Lips
Diamonds: Vocal cords and throat
Clubs: Cheeks
Spades: Tongue
Sounds may be produced in any way, that is, with the breath, by slapping (of the
cheeks), etc.
Number Cards: indicate duration of sound, approximately in seconds.
Face Cards (disregarding suit): indicate the speaking of a phoneme, with free duration,
pronounciation, and dynamics, roughly as it might be heard in ordinary conversation.
Specification and order of the phonemes is as indicated by the phoneme cards, read
consecutively.
Card Backs: indicate approximately five seconds of silence.
Joker and Extra Joker: are cues only the chairman, other performers ignoring them.
Joker: Chairman crosses his arms at the end of his deck, signaling one repeat, and each
performer, having reached the end of his own deck, runs through his cards once more,
in the order in which they now occur (last card first). Then each performer stops,
including the chairman (who ignores the joker during the repeat).
Extra Joker: Chairman raises his arms, signaling an immediate stop to the
performance.
George Brecht
Summer, 1959
- Card WY49, 120 x 153 mm, July 1961, text:
INCIDENTAL MUSIC
Five Piano Pieces,
Any number playable successively or simultaneously, in any order and combination,
with one another and with other pieces.
1.
The piano seat is tilted on its base and brought to rest against a part of the piano.
2.
Wooden blocks.
 A single block is placed inside the piano. A block is placed upon this block, then a
third upon the second, and so forth, singly, until at least one block falls from the
column.
3.
Photographing the piano situation.
4.
Three dried peas or beans are dropped, one after another, onto the keyboard. Each
such seed remaining on the keyboard is attached to the key or keys nearest it with a
single piece of pressure-sensitive tape.
5.
The piano seat is suitable arranged, and the performer seats himself.
Summer, 1961. G. Brecht.
- Card WY50, 120 x 135 mm, January 1962, text:
COMB MUSIC (COMB EVENT)
For single or multiple performance.
A comb is held by its spine in one hand, either free or resting on an object.
The thumb or a finger of the other hand is held with its tip against an end prong of the
comb, with the edge of the nail overlapping the end of the prong.
The finger is now slowly and uniformly moved so that the prong is inevitably released,
and the nail engages the next prong.
This action is repeated until each prong has been used.
Second version: Sounding comb-prong.
Third version: Comb-prong.
Fourth version: Comb. Fourth version: Prong.
G. Brecht.
(1959-62)
- Card WY51, 119 x 119 mm, June/August 1959, text:
[Recto]
CANDLE-PIECE FOR RADIOS
1. There are about one and one-half times as many radios as performers. The radios are
placed about the room and turned on at lowest volume. A stack of instruction cards
from a / shuffled master-deck is dealt, face-up, at each radio.
2. The room lights are turned out. (Birthday) Candles are lighted and given to the
performers, each of whom places one candle by each of the instruction card stacks.
 After doing this, each performer finds himself a radio. He performs the instructions
given on the top card, places the card at the bottom of the deck, and proceeds to
another, unoccupied, radio.
3. Each performer, then, finds himself performing a card instruction and going to another
radio. He does this until he finds either that a card is unreadable, or that the candle at
a radio is out completely. In either event, he turns off that radio, and, when no more
radios are available, returns to his seat.
[Verso]
4. Instruction card notation is as follows:
Pause 3 means pause for a slow count of 3.
Volume up means raise volume to audibility.
Volume down means lower volume as far as possible without turning the radio off.
R and L apply to tuning changes, R-3 meaning right about 3 cm. on the dial, L-5
meaning left on the dial about 5 cm. If the direction brings the dial indicator as far as it
can go to the end of the dial, then the distance remaining is to be made up in the
opposite direction.
1/2sec, applied to volume or tuning changes, is a convention denoting the shortest
practical duration.
5. The instruction card universe is constructed as follows:
a. An equal number of cards of type I and II are made up.
b. Type I follows the form:
“Pause (0-9), vol up 1/2sec, (L or R) (1-9), vol down, pause (0-9).”
Type II follows the form:
“(L or R) (1-9), pause (0-9), vol up 1/2sec, vol down, pause (0-9).”
There are an equal number of L or R cards of each type.
Numerical values in parentheses are chosen from the indicated range, using a table of
random numbers.
George Brecht
Summer, 1959