Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Vitor Rua <>]

What i think about this is (and sorry my english):

1. cage define music as "organized sound" right? (even if this  
definition belongs to Russolo in 1917 and then used by varèse in 1937)
2. if music is "organized sound" so 0`00``its not music !!! because  
there is no sound at all !!!!
3. a score its not music !!! like a script of a piece of theater or  
film its not a piece or a film !! its not yet a film or not yet a  
theatre piece... and a score its not yet music: because music  
(according to cage) its organised sound).

so, i don´t know if its a joke or not (we all know that cage was very  
funny) but one thing is shure: IT´S NOT MUSIC! (as cage says!!!  
because he says thar music is organized sound right?)

kind regards

Vítor Rua


On 25 Oct 2011, at 17:35, Josh Ronsen wrote:

> I'm enjoying the Kenneth Silverman bio of Cage. It could be twice as  
> long; we all know how incredibly active and productive Cage was.
>
> But for a writer who provides a sympathetic, understanding view of  
> the first performance of 4'33", Silverman describes its sequel as:
>
> "Fittingly, Cage dedicated to [Ono and Ichiyanagi] a musical joke he  
> composed (?) in Japan, entitled 0'00" (4'33" No. 2). The score is  
> one sentence long: 'In a situation provided with maximum  
> amplification (no feedback), perform a disciplined action.' ...  
> Clearly having fun, Cage had in mind the sort of 'instruction  
> pieces' Ono had been creating... However much a joke, Cage's  
> radically ma title intimates new musical ideas he was beginning to  
> contemplate." (pg. 184)
>
> Did Cage mean it as a joke? That doesn't seem right, from a composer  
> interested in amplifying the sound of ants walking on grass or the  
> sound of spores falling from a mushroom. If you see 0'00" as a joke,  
> I don't see how you could not see many other pieces by Cage as jokes  
> (scrap yard percussion! star-chart music! the sneeze as a musical  
> action!), which Silverman doesn't present as such. Silverman does  
> point out various critics and articles that do treat Cage as a joke,  
> but that's not what I get from Silverman.
>
> I see 0'00" as a fitting 4'33" No. 2: 4'33" brings ambient, ignored  
> sounds into focus; 0'00" brings another type of ignored sounds into  
> focus, pen writing on paper, swallowing (to name two examples of  
> Cage's 0'00" performances), although Cage's 0'00" performance with a  
> blender is a different type of sound, one that doesn't need to be  
> amplified to be heard by an audience, but the amplification of  
> course changes the sound and changes the focus of the sound.
>
>  The joke comment sticks out in my mind.
>
> -Josh Ronsen
> http://ronsen.org