John Cage's 4'33 is a unique and quite controversial
piece of music first performed in 1952. The composition consists of four
minutes and thirty-three seconds of “absolute musical silence," during
which the perceived performers do not play any instrument; instead, the
audience has been turned into the performers themselves. The creators of this
piece change its sound with every audience. In 4'33, the audience is meant to
experience the sound of their surroundings, creating a kind of "aural
landscape" themselves. Here, the absence of sound is artificial; the
orchestra getting ready to perform the piece creates the illusion that sound
will soon follow.
However, it was qui[e]te (pun
intended) confusing when nothing – at least, no expected sound – was played. Instead,
the attention shifted to what had happened in the room. The audience there and
within the classroom looked around for an indication of what was
happening. The shift of attention from the expectation of an orchestra
performing – but not doing so – to the shift toward the room for any signal of
what was happening changed the audience’s perspective of attention. The
illusion of what was expected turned into something quite confusing but
refreshing. Listening for any noise that could answer the silence turned into
the background noise that
was supposed to be the performance itself. When listening to 4’33 myself, the “what-if…” question kept
running through my mind. Honestly, my confusion turned into a moment of
meditation, as there was no sound – per se – that we were hearing. My mind
automatically went far, far away, so listening to the sounds of the classroom,
and admittedly the sighs and confused mutterings of the others, were immensely
calming in a way that I was not expecting. This piece is, however,
unnecessarily long; 4 minutes and 33 seconds is quite a long time to listen to
nothing in the classroom context where we were supposed to listen to musical
pieces. Nonetheless, I appreciate Cage's effort to challenge traditional
notions of music; it felt like a prank with a big "Fuck the System"
written on it.
In the end, conceptual art
tends to portray this message in one way or another. The idea that the listener
is invited to engage with the world around them in a new and creative way was
an interesting approach to sound and music. Besides, it can be anything,
meaning it can be interpreted however the listener wishes. However, the length
of the piece is still audacious and, may I even claim, pretentious? Like
seriously. One minute or two sufficed.
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