Repetition

'There is no such thing as repetition. Only insistence.'
– Gertrude Stein

'Schönberg said that everything is repetition - even
variation. On the other hand we can say that repetition
doesn't exist, that two leaves of the same plant are not
repetitions of each other, but are unique. Or two bricks
on the building across the streets are different. And when
we examine them closely, we see that they are indeed
different in some respect, if only in the respect how they
receive light, because they are at different points in space.
In other words, repetition really has to do with how we
think. And we can't think either that things are being
repeated, or that they are not being repeated. If we think
that things are being repeated, it is generally because we
don't pay attention to all of the details. But if we pay
attention as though we were looking through a
microscope to all of the details, we see that there is no
such thing as repetition.'
– John Cage
(From an interview with Birger Ollrogge, 1985)

Further reading and listening:
Repetition is the Source of Life
Thomas Bayrle, Oliver Laric, Mousse Magazine, 2012

Continuity and Break: James Brown's 'Funky Drummer'
Anne Danielsen, University of Oslo, 2010

The Making of Americans
Gertrude Stein, 1925. Read by Marian Seldes
(Folkways Recordings, 1963)

Repetition
Song by The Fall. From Bingo-Master's Break Out!, 1978)

Joy in Repetition
Song by Prince (From: Graffiti Bridge, 1990)

Funky Drummer
James Brown (Released as 7" by King Records, 1970)
[Drum Break Instrumental Version]

Around the World
Song by Daft Punk (From: Homework, 1997)



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