John Cage

John Cage

While looking at a number of sound based artists I noticed that John Cage comes up a lot, and definitely seems a significant precursor to sound based art and music.

Born September 1912 in LA, a composer known for his involvement in creating modern dance and being an eccentric character. He is also known for  some improvisation work including having his performers use random objects like conch shells and plants in some of his compositions.

Notable works include:

‘4.33’:

A four minute thirty-three second composition of silence focused on the experiences pertained during the performance.

The main thing I take form this piece is peoples different reactions, when its played in different places to different people the reactions will always be unique to locations and people. The idea came from John Cage realising he can’t make complete silence; making 4.33 a study of all the unavoidable sounds that take place. The effects this has in individuals is what most interests me from looking at Cage, as I want to experiment with peoples different personal reactions to certain sounds, and what can determine that. With my own personal recordings I want to explore ways of demonstrating peoples reactions to them.

‘Music of Changes':

A random generated piece of music influenced by a method called I Ching, using 6x2 grids system. It inspired a lot of his later work, using a similar method, and using chants.