Type: The New School + Dick Higgins

Artist: Dick Higgins

Building: 66 West 12th Street

Description: In Dick Higgin’s first class at the New School he watched John Cage stick a Pink Pearl eraser in the piano strings, which “made a dull, bell-like sound. “Nice” [Cage] said as the sound diet out”. Higgins was soon full of ideas (Larson 334). Cage was overwhelmed by Higgin’s documents and long manifestos. Higgin’s complex instructions would often last for three or four hours. The techniques that Higgins taught wore many of the students out. However, Cage was fascinated! It has been said, that in one class Higgins had barely finished introducing a fifty-page manuscript when the bell rang. Cage followed by asking if it was necessary to have such a long introduction (Pearlman 63). Higgins was a natural for Cage’s class. He had a supple and brilliant mind, argues writer Kay Larson in Where the Heart Beats. In 1958 he transferred to Columbia University as an English major after two years at Yale, and started studying with Cage (Larson 334). Higgins thought “the best thing that happened to us in Cage’s class was the sense he gave that “anything goes”, said Higgins. Cage opened up doors to new ideas.Dick Higgins met George Maciunas, George Brecht, La Monte Young and Mac Low. The environment encouraged students to break out of traditional molds.

Description Citation #1: Larson, Kay. Where the Heart Beats. New York: The Penguin Press, 2012. Print.

Description Citation #2: Pearlman, Ellen. Nothing . Berkeley: Evolver Editions, 2012. Print.

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Start Year: None

End Year: None