John Cage

February 24, 2010 The Escapist

John Cage is a music composer who is well known for his famous musical composition entitled 4’33”. Scientists and philosophers such as Emmanuel Kant influence him. He referred to Kant ‘s theory that two things that do not have to mean anything are music and laughter. Most people feel that music describes the feels and ideas of relationships; John Cage seems to think otherwise. I found this to be very weird because music puts a person in a different mood or place. Meaning that music has purpose and meaning. But at the sometime this opened my eyes to realise that music is sound. My definition of sound has completely changed because John Cage explains and interprets sound on another level. In the short clip he stated that when he hears traffic he does not hear of talking. He hears that sound is acting. I thought that was interesting because I have never taken the time to listen to the sounds that surround me. At this point I don’t think that John Cage is similar to any artist because he appears to me as one of kind. Growing up in a world today that has mass media. Music is being used as something that can change and heal the world. To John Cage music is just sound. I am going to challenge myself to experiment on the type of sound he prefers which silence.