John Cage was a famous American composer who was known for his unorthodox style of music in which he experimented with different sounds. From the beginning, Cage showed disinterest toward harmony. Arnold Schoenberg, his teacher at UCLA, told him that if he went that way, he would come across a wall he wouldn’t be able to get through. However, Cage said that he would beat his head against that wall. So in beating his head against that wall, he revolutionized music by going beyond the boundaries of traditional music structure. His music ranged from a piece featuring random radio broadcasts to shells filled with water.
One of his most famous pieces is 4’33’’ in which a pianist or other instrumentalists don’t play anything for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. As the musician doesn’t play anything, there is an emphasis on ambient sound ain the audience. The interpretation of this piece is in the eye of the beholder. This piece of music combines Cage’s interest in visual arts, experimental music, and chance operations. In writing 4’33”, he wanted the audience to get used to silence as a part of musical notation.
Some of his other famous compositions included pieces for prepared piano. The way it works is that one gets random objects, i.e. screws, and puts them either on the strings of the piano or between them which results in a percussive sound. Cage was asked to write music for a dance piece called Bacchanale. He desired to write a composition for a percussion ensemble, but there wasn’t any space for one in the venue where the dance was going to be performed. So, he wrote the piece for the piano. Cage also applied the prepared piano concept to his piece Sonatas and Interludes, which was another one of his greatest works.
I don’t have any feeling toward the music of John Cage. I prefer music with traditional musical structures such as harmony and rhythm. I also prefer order in the music I listen to. I don’t mind if anyone likes John Cage, but I’d take Beethoven and Mozart over him. At the same time, John Cage was one of the foremost composers of the modern era who convinced people that music is everything and that it is a means of communication to others. He experimented with different sounds and different visual expressions. He also taught people to question traditional forms of structure in other fields besides music.
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http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/john-cage-about-the-composer/471/
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150414-five-classical-controversies
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/05/160618202/music-is-everywhere-john-cage-at-100
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