"Hockey Seen" 1972

 

This isn't my art but it's in my collection. It's a splendid example of mid-century modern commercial art, covering a reel-to-reel relic from the early days of electronic music. It was one of a stack of recordings that I was able to transport back to my Virginia home in 2017. The tape originally belonged to my father, the modern composer Harold Shapero. What's on the tape? It's a modernist electronic soundtrack to a multi-media presentation created by another composer, John Adams. The first performance, involving dance, words, and music was at Harvard in 1972. My father was a mentor and good friend to Adams. This tape came with a CD-based transcription which I haven't listened to yet. When I was saving my father's archival material I had this stack professionally transcribed but there is plenty more to listen to as long as my reel to reel tape recorder (also from 1972) keeps working. If you look closely you can see my father's scribble at upper center that says "Hockey Seen." That's the title and theme of the whole deal, an electronic soundtrack and dance performance inspired by a hockey game.

Cardboard reel to reel tape box, 7 1/2 x 7 1/2",  c. 1972.