[lbo-talk] Re:john cage

paul childs npchilds at shaw.ca
Mon Oct 31 08:27:39 PST 2005



> For what it's worth, 4:33 has a score that contains a variety of 'notes'
> though all of them are of the type 'rest' . . . it's interesting to see
> someone perform the piece, because they wind up needing to turn the
> pages, etc.


>Actually, the score for 4'33" is probably one of the shortest scores
>ever written, easily fitting onto one page. This is the score:
>
> I
>TACET
>
> II
>TACET
>
> III
>TACET

There is a little more to the score than this, somewhere I have a web site that has a scanned version of the score by Cage available on-line. It does have three movemnets in defined measures, albiet with full rests in each meter.

In the interim;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cage

isn't a bad source for information on Cage and his music, other than 4:33.

Depending on your perspective 4:33 is either a piece of intellectual wankery or a remarkably layered piece. I go with the latter. Cage was a Buddhist, making a koan of a piece music with no sound is one of the things I think he wanted to achieve. Making people aware of the ambient level of noise and distraction we live in with is another. I used this piece in a service on Zen (with an explanation so people didn't think the audio system was toasted) and I had people approach me afterwards saying they never knew that silence could be so noisy.

PC

N P Childs

'I'm Mister Bad Example, the stranger in the dirt, I like to have a good time and I don't care who gets hurt'.

-Mr. Bad Example, W Zevon



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