Music Behind Walls, 3:24 min
R. Murray Schafer


Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer became dissatisfied with the limitations of concert hall early in his career, but it was not until he was in his forties that he began to radically transform audience experience and expectations in his work. His Patria Cycle of musical theatre pieces take place in a variety of mostly outdoor settings often at dawn or overnight. Audience participation is usually required. In this interview excerpt, Schafer begins by talking about conventional critical divisions within the world of music and then proposes a very different way of looking at cultural change.