John Cage

I have not read that much literature on John Cage and his work so I really enjoyed being able to find out more about him and his thoughts about his creative process and works of compositions. I had heard about him in my Modern Art History class. The only thing I knew was that he did a piece in complete silence entitled 4'33". After watching this piece again I realized what he was trying to convey within his performance. That music does not need to be planned or written out ahead of time, that the every day noise that we are surrounded by actual music. I understood his concept behind this and his originality went in the opposite direction of previous composers. I personal like his "Dream" piece over the silence of "4'33". Maybe I have become use to hearing music that is planned. I find "Dream" more enticing to me to listen to it over and over again. 4'33" is something new every time I watch it and I think that is why I do not enjoy it as much. It is a performance piece that has to watched and listened too. But Cage's understanding of silence in the modern world were most people do not even truly know what silence is interesting. To have 4'33" be a metaphor for life and how people live it with out really slowing down to enjoy it.  This interview was helpful to me in fully understanding his idea of silence.