Melody Dicer

This is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's original game for composing music, "Musikalisches Wurfelspiel", K516f, called "Melody Dicer" for short. To play the game, one tosses dice or selects a number, then follows the directions which were set down by Mozart two centuries ago. The possibilities of different melodies that may be arrived at are almost limitless. "The Melody Dicer can produce a phenomenal 100 quadrillion tunes, about 30 times as many people as there are in the world." Newsweek International. Playing the minuets from this game would keep the entire population of the world busy for the next 90 years. !

Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games columns in Scientific American inspired and entertained several generations of mathematicians and scientists. Gardner in his crystal-clear prose illuminated corners of mathematics, especially recreational mathematics, that most people had no idea existed. His playful spirit and inquisitive nature invite the reader into an exploration of beautiful mathematical ideas along with him. These columns were both a revelation and a gift when he wrote them; no one--before Gardner--had written about mathematics like this. They continue to be a marvel. This is the original 1988 edition and contains columns published from 1974-1976.

The experimental composer John Cage (1912-1992) is best known for his works in percussion, prepared piano, and electronic music, but he is also acknowledged to be one of the most significant figures in 20th century theatre. In Cage's work in theatre composition there is a blurring of the distinctions between music, dance, literature, art and everyday life. Here, William Fetterman examines the majority of those compositions by Cage which are audial as well as visual in content, beginning with his first work in this genre in 1952, and continuing through 1992. Much of the information in this study comes from previously undocumented material discovered among the unpublished scores and notes of Cage and his frequent collaborator David Tudor, as well as author's interviews with Cage and with individuals closely associated with his work, including David Tudor, Merce Cunningham, Bonnie Bird, Mary Caroline Richards, and Ellsworth Snyder.