Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

[Rob Haskins <>]

Not really that related to the topic, but the question and answer session after Cage did part 4 of Empty Words at the Naropa Institute is of great interest. He was much agitated by the audience's behavior. 

As I wrote in 2004,

There is a self-effacing quality in much of Cage’s work for which I can find no parallel in the music of any other composer.⁶³ It’s ironic, in a way, that this quality has provoked so much mayhem, violence, even anger in his performances. When, for example, he performed Part IV of Empty Words at the Naropa Institute on 8 August 1974, some members of the audience filled in the silences of the reading with screams, catcalls, and other derisive noises. In a dialogue that followed, Cage was asked if he was glad that he had gotten an honest response.

 

He replied:

If we are talking about the interruptions, that’s not to be classified under honest, that’s to be classified under the complete absence of self-control and openness to boredom—and boredom comes not from without but from within.⁶⁴

 

            63. Satie’s music offers an analogy, but it remains well within the orbit of conventional music with conventional gestures (albeit many pieces offer very little variety).

            64. Anne Waldman and Marilyn Webb, eds., Talking Poetics from Naropa Institute: Annals of the

Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics (Boulder and London: Shambhala, 1978), 1:220.

On Sun, Aug 13, 2023 at 9:57 AM John Whiting <> wrote:

Zen was also at the center of the SF Beat movement in its early stages.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CrERUv7jOI&t=2446s

On 13/08/2023 12:35, Paul Beaudoin wrote:

Dionysis
Thanks for your nice prompt to get us to think about Cage in this way.   Like John Whiting, I also knew Cage (Cage knew everyone) and was always taken by his extraordinary discipline in whatever endeavour he undertook. What is essential in understanding Cage (the composer and, perhaps, the person) was his devotion to Buddhist ideologies (though he was absolutely NOT a Buddhist).  When he sought out Zen Buddhism, it was, in his words, to replace psychotherapy - at a time in his life when he was in great crisis.  
Zen Buddhism taught Cage to free himself of his likes and dislikes - this is the key to understanding what you see as "self-confident."  I learned from this that criticism is about the work, not the person.   
In his Harvard Lectures, there is a revealing moment when someone asked if, during his 4'33", someone made some rude bodily noise - how would he respond/react?  "I would simply listen" was his answer.  I suspect the question was provocative, but Cage was steadfastly calm and clear - instantly disarming any malintent.

We can all learn from that.

Paul Beaudoin, PhD

Fulbright Scholar

Education Arts Research, OÜ 

On Sun, Aug 13, 2023 at 2:21 PM John Whiting <> wrote:

Knowing and working with Cage over many years, I was impressed with his total lack of ego projection.

http://www.thankyouoneandall.co.uk/letters/cage.htm

On 13/08/2023 06:53, Stefano Pocci wrote:

Hi Dionysis,

interesting question, but like you I do not recall remarks, comments or recounts of Cage feeling insecure or being tormented after the start of his career, i.e. what you also referred to.

While at first what struck me of Cage was his unconventional approach towards the arts, later I began to think that his really outstanding quality was his optimistic spirit conveyed by his unmistakable laughter. In other words, I thought Cage was some sort of alien/angel in some sense because you could maybe interrupt him, but you could not 'break' him or put a dent in his openness to life.

My impression was built around the numerous accounts of people that worked with him or that simply witnessed such characteristic behavior.

One anecdote in particular comes to mind. I was told this story by the person who lived it. I hope he does not mind if I share it here.

You are surely familiar with the 1977 Empty Words concert in Milan. The one that featured an angry multitude of protesting youngsters caught off guard by Cage's performance, advertised as a concert for revolution, but of a different kind than they were expecting.

Few hours before the concert began, this acquaintance of mine went to the rehearsal as one of his friends knew the organizers of the event. He managed to briefly speak to Cage and he wanted to do so because he was working on his university thesis focusing on modern theater and dance and Cage was one of the authors he was focusing his essay on.

John welcomed him in usual friendly manner, but immediately added that he did not have enough time to answer the questions he had prepared for him and agreed to meet him after the concert.

The atmosphere after the show was electric to say the least and with all the angry young men still inside the hall of the Lirico, my friend had given up on the idea of meeting Cage, but he was waiting with the very same friend he got him to see Cage earlier, trying to see how the overall situation developed and maybe hoping to speak with Cage after all.

Suddenly, one of the organizers emerged out of the crowd searching for both of them. "Where is your friend?" he asked. "We wanted to drive Cage out of the theater as soon as the concert ended, but Cage refused to leave the hall unless he met the young guy who wanted to interview him for his thesis!".

My friend was obviously surprised to hear that Cage even remembered him, let alone of the promise he had made in the afternoon considering how the concert developed. He was rushed backstage where he eventually joined the group of people - Gianni Sassi, Demetrio Stratos and other Cramps Records figures - that went to a club where my friend could interview and record Cage's words on a tape.

I listened to that tape and I could not imagine a more uncagean place than a club where disco music was playing in the background to have such an interview, but it did happen.

Funnily enough, my friend revealed that obsessive questions about Cage's family origins made by another person in the car that was transporting him and Cage to the club, were making Cage more and more irritated.

I mention this last bit because later in my life I began to think that Cage could be human like us after all. That is, perhaps his public persona, so open, always friendly and smiling, was slightly different than the private one in spite of his lifetime attempts to make art and life equal. And I do not intend this distinction as a drawback or an issue. On the contrary, if anything, it made me respect him even more.

Un saluto,

Stefano

Il giorno sab 12 ago 2023 alle ore 23:09 Dionysis Boukouvalas <> ha scritto:

The way I perceive Cage, he was one of the most self-confident composers I know (and I'm talking about good composers here).

Yet we all know how much artists are tormented by insecurities of every kind: Is it good enough? Is it original enough? Will it be popular (or the contrary, or whatever) enough? Am I good enough? etc etc

Is there any testimony as to Cage having similar insecurities throughout his career?

Only case I know about is his disillusionment with what emotions his (earlier) works were supposed to convey and how the audience reacted (i.e. unexpectedly).

Dionysis Boukouvalas

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Rob Haskins, DMA., PhD

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