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John Cage – Music for Carillon No.1 (1952)

 

John Cage’s “Music for Carillon No.1” is a short avant-garde musical piece that consists of unconventional rhythms as well as the melody, as if the artist is randomly playing the carillon bells. The unconventional use of the bells that is capsuled in four minute demonstrates the artist’s approach to the traditional ways of using the instruments. While carillons are often used in churches in a way slower and melodic rhythm which most people who have been in a town with church buildings might be familiar of; Cage’s performance for this piece is in quite the opposite way, more like questioning the traditional ways that only repeat each other for over centuries now.

My personal experience of “Music for Carillon No.1” is absolutely inconsistent and relatively elusive. I felt deeply uneasy with Cage’s use of bells, accompanied with forcing myself to be able to focus on the unconventional melody. I did not even get to be dragged in the mood of the piece because of zoning in and out. What comes to me so impressive that it could be exactly what John Cage aimed to experiment with his listeners. The unpredictability and the dark frighten people. The more we know and explore, the more we are comfortable. Therefore, the discomfort on the audience created through the application of unusual elements is very much common among avant-garde artists.

My take from that short but tough-to-listen-to music is that John Cage created a prime example of the approach embraced by some artists who prefer to cross the boundaries and limitations of certain instruments or genres. Life can be unpredictable and unexpected; therefore, the piece reminds us to reconsider our expectations from music as well as our expectations from life in general, while personally reminding me of ‘art imitates life’.

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