Brainstorm Blog #2

This blog mainly discusses the idea of how music can be more of an art form instead of a music form. As ridiculous as that sounds, composer John Cage taught us this idea with his piece, "4'33" that instead of using instruments to produce the music, John Cage sat in silence for over 4 minutes letting the natural sounds in the performance hall as well as outside to carry each movement. Cage recalled that, "You could hear the wind stirring outside during the first movement. During the second, raindrops began pattering the roof, and during the third people themselves made all kinds of interesting sounds as they talked or walked out." This idea that the third movement contained the bewildered expressions that the crowd had really goes to show how avant-garde this style of music was. The long lasting silence left listeners uncomfortable in their seats because it was something that they've never experienced before. Writer Alex Ross describes it as, "The simplest explanation for the resistance to avant-garde music is that human ears have a catlike vulnerability to unfamiliar sounds". This lack of sound left people trapped in their seats, yearning for a way out of this uncomfortable performance, failing to realize the music that they are creating themselves. John Cage goes to show that music is not just a collection of industrial instruments working together to produce a sound, but in fact everything can be music itself. Obviously, many people then and now still find Cage to be ridiculous for this idea, claiming it to be a sorry excuse for music. However, many others agree with John Cage and has opened peoples eyes to all the music and melodies that surround us everyday. He has inspired many others to follow in his foot steps like Morton Feldman, another avant-garde music creator. This is what John Cage originally wanted to do when performing his piece and has secured his name as one of the most revolutionary music producers of all time, good or bad.