Reading Blog #2

I have many conflicting opinions about John Cage and the pieces that he composed. Especially when I first heard his work before I knew of his background and the themes that he was wishing to portray. The first time that I heard 4:33, I was wildly confused. It made me feel uneasy as I waited patiently for something to happen, to hear an instrument, for the song to start, to hear any noise at all. Not until the entire piece was done and our class began to discuss the curious 4 and a half minutes we had just endured was I able to at least begin to comprehend what had just happened. I believe that in its essence, 4:33 is a work of art that transcends what “music” is. He composes an entire experience, that is different every time and can never be replicated, every single time that the piece is performed. He broke the traditional rules of what music is to create sounds that make people feel intense feelings. Unlike music where people can generally agree on the feeling it evokes or if it is “good”, 4:33 is different for every person and this individual experience is what makes it Art rather than plain old music. This being said, I would be absolutely livid if I attended a music performance and a composer sat there for 4 and a half minutes just to let me stew in my own head.

On the other side of Cage's works, I have infinite respect for him for pioneering the idea of using everyday sounds to make music and the idea of creating mixes. If it were not for him, would we have modern day music? Would we have pop stars? Would we have different versions of Rock? Would we have DJs? Would we have soundcloud rappers? He showed that to create music, you do not just need to do what everyone has done before you. In fact he showed that if you just do what others have done before you, you can never create a work of art.