John Cage

A Sound Artist
Background
● Born in Los Angeles, September 5, 1912
● Enrolled in Pomona College as a writer before dropping out two years in
● He travelled throughout Europe, discovering Bach and Stravinsky’s work
● Attended classes at The New School in NY, recommended to seek out avant-garde
composer Arnold Schoenberg
● Studied at USC and UCLA for two years before going off to innovate his own
unique composition style
○ "After I had been studying with him for two years, Schoenberg said, 'In order to write music, you
must have a feeling for harmony.' I explained to him that I had no feeling for harmony. He then
said that I would always encounter an obstacle, that it would be as though I came to a wall through
which I could not pass. I said, 'In that case I will devote my life to beating my head against that wall.'
Cont.
● Opened up existential freedoms for generations of musicians to come
● Use of chance and the way he utilized performers helped shape avant-garde
movements like Neo-Dada, Fluxus, and Conceptual art
○ chance was as important of a force governing a musical composition as the artist's will
4’33” (1952)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTEFKFiXSx4

● http://www.johncage.org/4_33.html

● Depends on the environment in which it is performed

● First performed at Woodstock, NY

● Later embraced by progressive artists

Water Walk (1960)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXOIkT1-QWY

● “I consider music the production of sound. And since, in the piece which you will
hear I produce sound, I will call it music.”
Sonatas and Interludes (1946-1948)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26K9f8n6ymU

● Inspired by studies of Indian music and philosophy

● Expresses the eight "permanent emotions" of the rasa Indian tradition
○ the white (humor, wonder, erotic, and heroic)
○ the black (anger, fear, disgust and sorrow)
Sources
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-cage-john.htm

https://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2012/aug/13/john-cage-contempor
ary-music-guide

http://www.theartstory.org/artist-cage-john-artworks.htm#pnt_2

http://researchblog.andremount.net/?p=505