This piece, like most of Cage's output after 1951, was assembled by Chance. It's easy to misunderstand Cage's music, but just know that most modern music uses chance in some way. In popular music, this might come out in automatic beat-slicing, or in pitch-correction where a computer is guessing the pitches that a singer intends (think: I Am T-Pain app). All of these things owe something to Cage, who was one of the first composers to explore chance in music.
Don't listen to Cage by comparing him to earlier composers who wrote different types of music. Listen to Cage by hearing all the music that came after him, and borrowed from him in some way.
Haha... If I heard something by John Cage I reeeally liked or heard an awesome piano performance or something by him, I'd have a little more respect. For now, I totally agree w/ you.
This is TERRIBLE! Not one tiny bit of is music. He is a shame to those who appreciate true and beautiful music. Bach and Beethoven would have shrugged this man off as a joke.
Such a shame he died so long ago. This kind of experiment would be so much easier on a computer simply layering the threads. It's a stunning recording, the perfect combination of meaningful and ''meaningless'', and shows (as always) that the latter is strictly impossible. It's tempting to think that Cage is opposed to this, but this recording shows this isn't so.
NewMusicXX- Would you happen to know if the two happenings were recorded simultaneously and if cage and tudor could hear what each other were doing while it was being recorded?
@stanchinsky - I don't have an absolutely definitive answer, but as I understand the premise, the two participants cannot hear each other, and their parts were recorded simultaneously.
What is not music? And if there is such a thing as not music, where do you draw the line between the two? The composer is allowed to call whatever he pleases music. That is his power.
What if firemen started calling themselves pilots, that wouldnt change what they actually are.
At what exact depth would you call a pool "deep"? Of course there is no universally accept measurement, its all subjective, but that's not to say that a bowl of water should be classified the same as a lake.
This piece, like most of Cage's output after 1951, was assembled by Chance. It's easy to misunderstand Cage's music, but just know that most modern music uses chance in some way. In popular music, this might come out in automatic beat-slicing, or in pitch-correction where a computer is guessing the pitches that a singer intends (think: I Am T-Pain app). All of these things owe something to Cage, who was one of the first composers to explore chance in music.
pau1more1 5 days ago
Don't listen to Cage by comparing him to earlier composers who wrote different types of music. Listen to Cage by hearing all the music that came after him, and borrowed from him in some way.
pau1more1 5 days ago
Clearly. My love of Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven is ill-placed. I should rather subject my ears to a rant of poetry set against randon noises.
zooland12 1 week ago
@zooland12
Haha... If I heard something by John Cage I reeeally liked or heard an awesome piano performance or something by him, I'd have a little more respect. For now, I totally agree w/ you.
aeopmusic 1 week ago
"One of the music majors is thinking for the first time in her life." I just love that line for some reason!
ahaili 5 months ago
The visual component was too determinate for my druthers.
myPodTouchesYou 6 months ago
So.......can someone please explain why this is considered a masterpiece?
JinNOSify 6 months ago
This is TERRIBLE! Not one tiny bit of is music. He is a shame to those who appreciate true and beautiful music. Bach and Beethoven would have shrugged this man off as a joke.
zooland12 6 months ago
@zooland12 idiot you know nothing about composition and poetry in motion
HAMSLAM13 2 weeks ago
He has that guy who use to perform old Hollywood horror voice, Vincent Prince...spooky, yet intriguing. Definitely a fav'!!!
Blisscious 8 months ago
no offence but this is THE shit. :P
jamesaellis 11 months ago 5
no offense but this is shit
ec123456789able 11 months ago
this shits freaky, but most definitely innovative...
DJJBENASIS 1 year ago
He walks down the street with people firing lazers and he has nothing to do
Evellon1 1 year ago
Such a shame he died so long ago. This kind of experiment would be so much easier on a computer simply layering the threads. It's a stunning recording, the perfect combination of meaningful and ''meaningless'', and shows (as always) that the latter is strictly impossible. It's tempting to think that Cage is opposed to this, but this recording shows this isn't so.
GregFox100 1 year ago
In "A Year From Monday," Cage's book from 1967, this is called "How to Pass, Kick, Fall, and Run."
squattercity 1 year ago
Irony and genius at their best.
feraro23 1 year ago
Comment removed
goldencricket 8 months ago
John Cage was an amazing person.
Earle Brown wrote his piece Four Systems for David Tudor. Interesting that Tudor made the sounds for this piece.
kpenter 1 year ago
NewMusicXX- Would you happen to know if the two happenings were recorded simultaneously and if cage and tudor could hear what each other were doing while it was being recorded?
stanchinsky 1 year ago
@stanchinsky - I don't have an absolutely definitive answer, but as I understand the premise, the two participants cannot hear each other, and their parts were recorded simultaneously.
NewMusicXX 1 year ago
@NewMusicXX I figured that... Thanks for replying. Keep up the good work. :)
stanchinsky 1 year ago
It's questionable whether composers take it too far but who cares. And trying to define art or music is useless. It's still the same work in the end
disraeligears13 1 year ago
artistic intelligence. music as it appears. meaning as it appears.
love this recording.
nwal42 2 years ago
no i do loive it!
jamesaellis 2 years ago
I wouldnt call it music, however its definitely art, and its great.
frosty956 2 years ago 2
What is not music? And if there is such a thing as not music, where do you draw the line between the two? The composer is allowed to call whatever he pleases music. That is his power.
Lucidfluzy 2 years ago 2
Just as the composer is allowed to call whatever he pleases music, so can I. I stand by my comment. The line of division is pureley subjective.
frosty956 2 years ago
alright Neo
buhbl 2 years ago
What if firemen started calling themselves pilots, that wouldnt change what they actually are.
At what exact depth would you call a pool "deep"? Of course there is no universally accept measurement, its all subjective, but that's not to say that a bowl of water should be classified the same as a lake.
RatherCrunchyMuffin 2 years ago
@frosty956 music is an art. people seem to forget that.
Zero300000 2 years ago
Cage just seems to constantly amaze me
chinesespiders 2 years ago 9
#4 & #5 are probably my favorites.
"I was fascinated, for everything was going wrong."
BlueManIan 3 years ago 9
...
jamesaellis 3 years ago
i heard this piece for the first time the other day and it's already one of my favorites.
ahaili 3 years ago 4