iN The Mind of Cage

In homage to Cage's Centennial Celebrations here are six sound phrasings of the artist:


* The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason.


* It's useless to play lullabies for those who cannot sleep.


* If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.







* Which is more musical: a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?


* There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot.


* I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.







image : John Cage's drawing Ryoanji, associated with a composition in progress (1983-1985) named after the rock garden in Kyoto, Japan.

video : 4'33" is a three movements composition, 1952, for any instrument (or combination of instruments). The score instructs the performer not to play the instrument during the entire duration of the piece. The piece purports to consist of the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed, although it is commonly perceived as "four minutes thirty-three seconds of silence"

An addendum:
* John cage about silence
* John Cage performing "Water Walk" on popular TV 1960.
* Chance Conversations: An Interview with Merce Cunningham and John Cage.
* John Cage: An Autobiographical Statement.

Thu, Sep 6, 2012  Permanent link

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