4'33

I'm currently reading this book titled ",you asshole." by Alina Lupu and, keeping in mind the reading lesson we had in class, decided to look up a reference to John Cage's 4'33 which I had never heard of before. John cage was an experimental composer, music theorist, philosopher, and artist and although I could go into all the interesting details I learned about Cage, I'd like to focus on the three-movement composition 4'33. Composed for " any instrument or combination of instruments, the score instructs the performer(s) not to play their instrument(s) during the entire duration of the piece throughout the three movements." It is literally four minutes and thirty three seconds of "silence" or rather the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed. It served Cage's idea that sounds of any sort can be music, and he considered it his most important work. 

I have to say, the performances of this composition are extremely strange to watch and I don't know if seeing this piece on youtube is the right way to experience it. The ignorant music snob in me wants to hate it, and say that there is craft and consideration that goes into writing music that gives it the importance it has in our every day lives, where are the melodies? The poetic lyrics? The ripping guitar solos? However, the other part of me appreciates what John Cage asks of his audience, to observe the the sounds that would otherwise go unrecognized, and to consider their potential. Does silence even really exist? Is music whatever you make of it? 

Here are some of the different performances