Skip to main content

Cage

 John Cage:

“4’33“

  Well… how do I start? I find “4’33“ by John Cage and how it is carried out very amusing. Cage was of the opinion that “there is no such thing as silence“ and I guess “4’33“ perfectly represents this philosophy. I would argue that Cage tries to display his idea of sound and music with this piece and does that in a sarcastic, exaggerated way. He needs a whole orchestra and a fully booked hall to play not one tone?! There are instructions for the conductor on how to move and a clock to show when to turn a page and when the piece is over. The act of turning a page is very extravagant and comes with a coughing, laughing, and moving audience. At some points it feels as if the piece is making fun of the classic idea of music; the conductor wipes his sweat although there is no reason to sweat and the musicians sometimes have to hide their own laughter.

            The only noise happening during the piece comes from the audience and from the conductor turning a page. One cannot say that there were four minutes of silence because that is basically not true. “If there is sound it means that there is life“, right? That is shown here. Sneezing, coughing, breathing, whispering, dropping something, moving, and other sounds make “4’33“ what it is: a piece the audience creates and shows how “silence“ can also be very loud. 

            I would argue that many know the feeling: you are not allowed to move so your body tells you to move, you are not allowed to laugh yet your body tells you to lough… I think you know what I mean. I can only imagine how long these four minutes feel for the audience. This might be a great exercise for ones mind. The piece forces you to concentrate solely on yourself and the natural sounds you and the others around you make. Sitting still and quiet for a long time and basically doing nothing is very hard for some people, especially now that there are distractions everywhere by television, the loudspeaker next to the couch, the phone on your nightstand, etc. To concentrate on one thing only and doing one thing consciously is not easy anymore, therefore this piece might be a great lesson for everyone. The applause in the end shows great interest for pieces that are not perceived as music by the western society.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure

 Sarah Kumar Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath The Future of (American) Music 06 Mar. 2023 Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure According to John Oswald, “[a] plunderphone is a recognizable sonic quote, using the actual sound of something familiar which has already been recorded” (Lecture Slides 18). However, only if the source stays recognizable can it be called plunderphonics. In his album Plexure , several songs are played back and mixed together, thus creating a new sound. This is interesting because while the excerpts of songs that are used are recognizable or at least sound familiar to some degree, played backwards and mashed up as they are in Plexure , they create a new sound. Like on the cover of the album, on which a collage making up a man can be seen, the mixing of different songs played backwards gives a new feeling to something known. The way the songs are mixed makes them unintelligible. The meaning of the words of the original recordings are not able to be compr...

John Cage – Inlets

  This does not sound like music to me. Depending on the interpretation of different players or performers, this piece will always sound different. In this case, it sounds to me like someone is walking through a cave with water at the bottom, dragging their feet through it. Sometimes it sounds like water in a toilet bowl, especially when we hear the water in a bigger shell being swished around. These sounds are relaxing in the background, it is like a gentle stream of water. I just wonder what went through the head of the composer while writing this piece. But I guess he had some experimental ideas that are interesting to try out. Those shells are quite pretty, I have never seen such big ones that are not broken. I was surprised when something else happened towards the end of the piece. That tone which came out of the one shell was so clear, it sounded like a trumpet. I didn’t know that shells can sound like that. It was quite beautiful. It was a nice way to end the piece. I di...

William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops III

  The Disintegration Loops is a quartet of albums published in 2002 and 2003 by American avant-garde composer William Basinski. The pieces are made up of tape loop recordings that were played over time, with noise and crackles rising as the tape deteriorated. Basinski noticed this effect when attempting to convert his older recordings to digital format. The completion of the recordings coincided with the September 11, 2001 events, which Basinski witnessed and adds a deeper meaning to the composition. The composition is fascinating in many ways and makes the listener lose track of time. The tape loop recording had a very calming effect on me and put me in a trance-like state when I listened to it in its entirety. The tape loop is really soothing, so much so that I didn't even notice the loss of quality when I first listened to it. It makes you forget about time and allows you to really get into the piece capturing the calmness it exudes. You forget or don't really notice how i...