john_cage Mahayana Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we find it fascinating. The sound of a truck at 50 m.p.h. Static between the stations. Rain. We want to capture and control these sounds, to use them, not as sound effects, but as musical instruments. Cage on the future of music - from a lecture given in 193 041214 ... . 193*7 041214 ... unhinged imaginary landscape no. 1 --- john_cage for piano and records is about the only cage piece i've ever heard that i could actually listen to. chalk it up to aesthetic differences. if a guy has to write bookfulls of philosophy to justify what he's doing musically cause otherwise no one else can understand it, is his stuff legitamit? eh *shrugs* is not a fan 041214 ... unhinged david_tudor and john_cage were butt buddies in crime 041214 ... no reason i like his mesotic poetry 041214 ... () (6 minutes of silence) 041214 ... dreamer john_cage vs scorpion? 050407 ... zobz maybe 061025 ... Caroline 452 john cage has a piece called "as slow as possible", which is being performed now in a church in germany. It started in 2001, and is scheduled to run for 639 years. 090309 ... unhinged john cage also wrote an essay entitled 'who cares if they listen' that every pretentious wannabe composer uses as a justification for their shitty unplayable music 090310 ... mahayana i love & appreciate john cage for the same reasons that i respect & find true value in avant garde film .for the possibilities. .for the freedom. .for the opportunities to form deep connections. when one watches many of the avant garde films it doesn't so much matter what the artist had intended when making the film as much as what the viewer brings to the film. there's so much room for interpretation that at some point in time while watching ... avant garde film becomes a participatory event. it is almost as if the viewer becomes a writer of the film while simultaneously taking everything in for the first time. i can remember back to my film classes at UWM and what struck me as odd were all of the people complaining about the avant garde films. "what the hell was *that* supposed to mean?", "that was boring.", "why was there no storyline!?" on and on the complaints would pile on top of each other. but from my perspective i finally felt understood as a complicated human being and therefore perceived a certain new sense of freedom in being a viewer. traditional classical hollywood films spoon shovel so many ideas, emotions, and storylines into our brains that there are few opportunities to be creative & insightful. most often times you watch a classical film once and that is it... not much else to experience, but with avant garde film it is often the opposite. the second time through one's brain can conjure up a whole new storyline with woven connections between watcher & watched. often avant garde film & john cage's work reminds me of the beauty in the mundane. it is a sort of soul awakening for me. it whispers that magicalness & artistry is all around us in many of the ordinary things we cast aside as everyday backdrops. whether it is a backdrop of sound, a visual backdrop, or an emotional backdrop. many of us fall into a habit of taking too much for granted and what John Cage does is remind me to not let moments of beauty flow past me without noticing & participating. take John Cages' 1952 composition 4'33" three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. [brilliant!] the sounds & ambiance of the environment (theater, concert hall, living room) are supposed to be enjoyed as the instruments and music that the audience hears. the audience will never hear the same song twice. the composer will never have created the same music twice. creative artists such as these give me reasons and a renewed sense of passion to live in those rare few moments when it is hard to see beauty in life. cage reminds me that music is all around us. in the whirring hum of a computers fan, the sound of a pot being scrubbed in the kitchen, sounds of laughter from the reading room, and in the simple yet vital inhalations & exhalations of my breath as i go about my day. i don't have to be rich to go see an opera the whole world is my opera. i could be a recluse and have a symphony in my own home, i could be a tone deaf non-musical person and find that in just by me living i am a composer of sound & music. perhaps this music will never be played on the radio or make the top 10 hit list nor make any amount of money. but who said music was intended to solely do that in the first place? i admire the fact that Cage created musical experiences under his own terms without the constraints of ideologies, formulas, and standards that just so happened to have come before him. if we follow the life path that others have taken we are missing out on the bigger picture of it all. if i were to take the life path of my grandmother that would be wrong for me as i am meant to live with different passions, experiences, and mistakes of my own. too often I hear people say sentiments as such: "that painting is nothing but two squares of color anyone could've done that. that's not art my child could've done that." or "that's not music anyone could've done that." ... sometimes that which seems so simple and as if it lacks true significance & value comes forth with a deep profoundness that prompts us to open ourselves up beyond our habitual everyday actions and modes of acceptance. this is only one diminutive awakening that John Cage allows me to experience. chance-controlled music is much like life. life is largely controlled by chance there is little in life that one has definite & absolute control over. so why can't an expression of music be the same? that is partly the moving force i see in most of Cage's expressions from 1951 and on. i find it highly fascinating that he used The I Ching (an ancient Chinese classic text on changing events) as his standard compositional tool for the rest of his life once discovered. life is a series of changing events - ever fluid. nothing remains static & rigid. in many ways Cage celebrates life he doesn't try to shape in into something that it isn't. he doesn't try to fit it into rigid forms and concepts of instruments, notes, and precision playing. he instead composed music that affirmed life. if we are willing to view cage from a new light we can possibly allow ourselves to see that in many ways he wanted to wake us up... to life. and in that simple fact alone i find there to be a deep connective value in his work. [when i am aware of the various pitches, tones, and durations of sounds underneath my tires on the highway i often smile and dedicate that composition to john cage. and in doing so i am reminded of the enchantment of life.] 090310 ... unhinged oh my goodness mahayana. i really could go on and on about my dislike of the institution this man has created in modern music and it's studies, but i would first like to say that your writings about your appreciation of him helped me look at the other side of him and his work aside from my dislike of it. i studied music and the violin in the ivory tower environment of music school for six years. and in music school i think the prevailing attitude of the avant garde may be the exact opposite as it was for you in film school, at least in some circles. that theory class i took at uwm where the prof opened my eyes to some of john cage's better work was populated with composers who really took john cage's credo of 'who cares if they listen' to heart. is that really practical? classical music is dying in america and it has been for a long time. unlike the european countries where this stuff came from, americans don't have an appreciation of this stuff anymore. just take a look at the state of pop music today. art in this country has been reduced to lip synchers and disgustingly violent mainstream movies. (obviously a slight exaggeration, but you know what i'm getting at) all art shouldn't be practical but...i totally lost my train of thought on this one. too upset about other things. maybe i'll be able to pick it up later 090310 ... mahayana unhinged. thanks for your thoughts & reactions to this entry. it's important to me to be exposed to different perspectives. especially since you possess a musical background derived partly from higher educational studies. is it really the institution that john cage has created that you dislike or is it more so the manner & reasons that people had chosen to reference cage's way of thinking? how would you describe the institution that john cage has created? thank you for your kind words unhinged. it's nice to know that what i shared might allow others to consider cage in a different manner. if even only for a few moments. :] it surprises me that the musical avant garde you have come across would have such a seemingly unyielding position. on one hand i think it is commendable that people whom create any kind of art have the overall sense that it doesn't really matter what others think of their creations. (of course there is also a certain sense of reality that artists have to be mindful of if they intend to create art as a sole source of income) sometimes it helps me to think about all of the wide variety of reasons why people create art in the first place. some do it for fame & fortune, some do it because they have stories to tell, some do it simply for the pure enjoyment of doing it. but too often i think many get caught up in what others might think that they do tend to hamper their own creative process. for artists that notion of "who cares what others think about my art" can be healthy & freeing to some degree. but on the other hand i also believe that one should remain open-minded enough to experience and consider other perspectives. it is through this open-mindedness that many opportunities to grow comes about. the composers that said 'who cares if they listen' they sort of hold my interest in a small way, but maybe only because my mind wonders how they reached that conclusion in the first place. but i also understand how as a fellow student in a classroom setting their statements could be highly frustrating. what were the situations in which they used that response? was it their overall philosophy or was it mentioned during specific discussions? how did your teachers respond to the 'who cares if they listen' statement? since you had started to say that "all art shouldn't be practical but..." im interested in knowing what you think art should be and what it shouldn't be. i'm interested in learning from your experiences and viewpoints. so please feel free to pick up this entry at a later point if and when you ever feel ready to. :] 090311 what's it to you? who go blather from