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John Cage - 4'33'' (read explanation below)

1 decade 6 years 11 months 1 week ago

john cage
, 433

This piece may seem absurd, pretentious and/or gimmicky on first exposure (and doubly-so to those who have never pondered the philosophy and/or meaning of art) but the fact of the matter is that this piece is indeed all and none of these things at the same time. Confused? Welcome to the world of John Cage.

I'm not going to try to explain it, because it can't really be done in words, but I'll give you some clues. It relates to the nature of sound and the nature of art.

Exercise: Take a picture frame off one of your pictures. Now place the frame somewhere where it normally wouldn't go. Is there still art in the middle? Was there art there to begin with? There aren't really any answers, just more questions, which is why this is cool.

Some find this profound, others find it dull. Some find this brilliant, others find it stupid. Some find this to be more of a philosophical statement than a piece of music, others think this is a beautiful work. John Cage would probably agree with everyone. Feel free to discuss.

Note: Something is definitely lost in the translation, as hearing this in a hall full of performers and audience members provides for a much more striking experience, but in theory, it should achieve a similar effect anywhere.

PS, I know there is another version of this on the sift, but it didn't contain much discussion or explanation, and I thought talking about it would be interesting. It's a shame that this kind of heady stuff is so rare anymore in art and music. Commerce is king.