3 thoughts on “John Cage – 4’33””

  1. i performed many times in the tiny, cramped auditorium in which john cage developed the prepared piano, although i didn’t perform 4’33” until i was at WWU, a couple of years later…

    it seems like that would only work the first time: you notice that the audience is completely silent during the movements, and you can hear them starting to make a little noise during the breaks…

    which is just as musical – john cage once posed this question: which is more musical, a truck driving by a factory or a truck driving by a music school? – but, perhaps in the opposite way in which cage was referring to originally…

  2. Always one of the most interesting pieces to hear. I guarantee it will never be played the same way twice…

    …which could make it the official Calvinball anthem.

  3. Cage and Stravinski, my two favorites.

    According to Cage, the purpose of 4’33” is to create ‘music’ from the sounds of the audience as they realize there is not going to be anything played.

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