3.5 Notation

A typical feature of Fluxus notations is the prosaic textual description in the role of a score. Such a description needs to be seen both in contrast to traditional notation and against the sometimes hermetic experimental systems devised by other musicians of the avant-garde. Standing to the side of these conventions, it draws attention to the concept of notation itself, reminding us that notation is not simply a transparent vehicle of description or direction but an acquired and culturally mediated system. Fluxus notation aims at accessibility through simplicity of description; no command of technical language or jargon is required. However, such a score describes a series of actions; it does not describe or stand for the music in a conventional sense. The music, or sound, that results from these actions is ancillary to the score. It takes a large number of words to describe even a simple conventional musical parameter; the scores used by Fluxus artists almost always provide instructions for setting up a situation (they are not descriptive) in which the consequent actions are to be seen as music: The score is the agent that engages the reader-performer in the theater of the act.^[10] Musical scores, it should be remembered, are graphic; some exploit this more than others, but all convey information visually.