1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:12,880 Speaker 1: A femeral as a protection of My Heart Radio. As 2 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 1: eight fifteen approached, the audience filed into their seats and 3 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 1: began to settle for the performance. Designed for chamber music, 4 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: The Maverick Concert Hall was built in nineteen sixteen and 5 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 1: is still in use today in Woodstock, New York, Framed 6 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: in by trees and set amongst the Catskill Mountains. The 7 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,240 Speaker 1: audience nearer the stage sat inside the barn like building, 8 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: the other half set out on benches under the stars. 9 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: As part of the nineteen fifty two Summer series, this 10 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: Friday night benefit concert featured works by a cavalcade of 11 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,559 Speaker 1: avant garde composers. So I'm just getting their start. It 12 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 1: began with a piece by John Cage which would later 13 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: be titled water Music, then eighteen year old Christian Wolf's 14 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: four piano Morton Feldman's Extensions Number three, the premier Sonata 15 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: in two parts by Pierre Blesse, five intermissions by Morton 16 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:08,839 Speaker 1: Felton for a prepared piano by Christian Wolf, and before 17 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,559 Speaker 1: the night wrapped up with the Banshee by Henry Cowell. 18 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: There was to be one more piece, a new piece 19 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: written by Cage and debut tonight virtuoso performer David Tudor 20 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: took the stage two doors, set down at the piano, 21 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: placed the score in the stand, took out a stop 22 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:31,039 Speaker 1: watch and closed the lid over the keys. He started 23 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: to stop watch. Thirty seconds later, he opened the lid, 24 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: then closed it back over the keys. He did the 25 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,679 Speaker 1: same thing two minutes and twenty three seconds later, turning 26 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: the pages of the score, all the while performing each 27 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: of the actions as quietly as possible. And a minute 28 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: and forty seconds after that he stood as if to 29 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: receive applause. In all, four minutes and thirty three seconds 30 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: had elapsed in which two door played no notes four 31 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: thirty three, as the pieces most commonly referred four and 32 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: a half minutes of inaction. You see. John Cage believed 33 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: that music was everywhere, including and maybe even especially silence. 34 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:23,799 Speaker 1: But what is silence? That summer night and upstate New York, 35 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: and with an angry mob of a crowd, as David 36 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: Tudor recounts, one patron exclaimed, good people of with stock. 37 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 1: I think we should run these people out of town. 38 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: That was the reaction. Audience members were incensed. They may 39 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 1: have asked for their money back if it hadn't been 40 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: a benefit concert, Cage would be accused of everything from 41 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: parading around an emperor's new clothes to a deliberate attack 42 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: on the sanctity of music. And while these attitudes have persisted, 43 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,079 Speaker 1: they are now accompanied by a plethora of other readings. 44 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:59,359 Speaker 1: For the last sixty five years, four three spark debate, inspiration, 45 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: and all levels of study. It's been performed, recorded, interpreted, parodied. 46 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: Every textbook on modern American music has a blurb on 47 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: John Cage and his so called silent Peace. I, like 48 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: many students, enrolled and intro to music appreciation, covered four 49 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: three in class one day. For some reason, if I 50 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: remember correctly, Dr Doll felt the need to queue up 51 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 1: a YouTube video of an orchestral rendition of the piece, 52 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:28,239 Speaker 1: and then she instructed the class to stay silent, just listen. 53 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 1: This is one of those big classrooms with maybe a 54 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,679 Speaker 1: few hundred seats. You can imagine there was some snickering, 55 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: but four and a half minutes is actually kind of 56 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: a long time for the uninitiated, and by and by 57 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: the intentional sounds drifted away after the orchestra and the 58 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: video took a bow, and the virtual audience gave rapturous applause. 59 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: Dr Doll surveyed the class, what did you hear? Because, 60 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: of course, the worst kept secret of four thirty three 61 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: is that it's not silent. The pieces ostensibly made up 62 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: of the sun. In your environment, they could cough me 63 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: be consciously or subconsciously tune out as we go about 64 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: our business. The first performance, for instance, through Cages eyears, 65 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: consisted of wind stirring in the trees, rain pattering the roof, 66 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 1: and towards the end people talking are walking out. Oh 67 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:25,599 Speaker 1: my best friend was. I had students right down the 68 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,039 Speaker 1: sounds they heard during it, and one girl said, I 69 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: never realized there was so much to listen to. This 70 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,359 Speaker 1: is Kyle Gann, who read the exhaustive history of four three. 71 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:40,080 Speaker 1: No such thing as silence. Yeah, that's been my uh 72 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: best selling book. It was it's in a series of 73 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:48,120 Speaker 1: American icons and other things in the series, or like 74 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,479 Speaker 1: the Empire state Building in the Hamburger and Gone with 75 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 1: the Wind. So I had been fanatical about cage when 76 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,239 Speaker 1: I was young. You know, I played four thirty three 77 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: on my school senior recital and it seemed like a 78 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:08,280 Speaker 1: way of getting back to my route. A few pages 79 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:10,360 Speaker 1: of blank sheet music may not seem like it took 80 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: all that much concocting. The Cage said on numerous occasions 81 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:15,760 Speaker 1: that this was his hardest piece to write, and then 82 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 1: it took him the longest coincidentally, four and a half years. 83 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: I think it was a big professional risk. He had 84 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 1: a precarious reputation as a composer already, and it was 85 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 1: the kind of thing that's gonna make a lot of 86 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,920 Speaker 1: people not take him seriously. I think he did not 87 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,279 Speaker 1: want to do it until he had come up with 88 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: a really serious rationale. A fifteen year old high school 89 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 1: student delivered his prize winning speech on Pan American relations 90 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: from the stage of the Hollywood Bowl. One of the 91 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: greatest blessings of the United States could receive in her 92 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: near future would be to have her industries halted, her 93 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: businesses discontinued, her people speechless, a great pause in her 94 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: world of affairs created, and finally, to have everything stop 95 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: that runs until everyone should hear the last We'll go 96 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 1: around and the last echo fade away. Then, in that 97 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: moment of complete intermission of undisturbed calm, then we should 98 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: be capable of answering the question, what ought we to 99 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: do for we should be hushed and silent. We should 100 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 1: have the opportunity to learn that other people think. Born 101 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: John Milton Cage, Jr. He grown up mostly in California, 102 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 1: the son of a journalist mother and a father who 103 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: was an eccentric inventor. After high school, Cage enrolled in 104 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:32,919 Speaker 1: Pomona College to study theology, thinking he'd like to be 105 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: a writer, but dropped out in his second year. He 106 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: spent some years drifting through Europe and experimenting with writing, architecture, painting, 107 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:44,280 Speaker 1: and theater, but by ninety three he decided he would 108 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:49,159 Speaker 1: dedicate his life to composition, and he did. Cage bounced 109 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:51,960 Speaker 1: from coast to coast, studying with a litany of composers, 110 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:55,799 Speaker 1: but it all culminated in Los Angeles with Arnold Schernberg. 111 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,920 Speaker 1: Shechrnberg was a giant an iconoclastic figurehead of the avant garde. 112 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:03,840 Speaker 1: Before fleeing his native Germany in the wake of the 113 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: Third Reich, he pioneered the twelve tone technique, in which 114 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,400 Speaker 1: the twelve semi tones of the Western scale are ensured 115 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 1: equal distribution. Effectively, the sacred European musical model had been 116 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: turned on its head. Other composers had employed chromatic systems, 117 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: but Schrimberg's became the gold standard for the twentieth century. Cage, 118 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:27,560 Speaker 1: who lived almost exclusively in poverty into his fifties, could 119 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: not afford the lessons, but Scherenberg, perhaps because of Cage's 120 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: vigor and dedication, offered to tutor him for free, a 121 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: gesture Cage never forgot, tutoring many of his own pupil's 122 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: gratis Throughout the years following. Cage looked up to Shermburg immensely, 123 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:44,320 Speaker 1: but the teacher and student did not always see eye 124 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 1: to eye. I certainly had no feeling for her many 125 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: and Cherenberg got attack would make it impossible for me 126 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: to write music. He said, you'll come to a ball 127 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: you won't be able to get through, And so I said, 128 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: I I'll beat my head against that wall. For a 129 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:06,320 Speaker 1: guy who flipped the script on tunnel harmony, Schoenberg had 130 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: a strict rubric for composition. I love what Cage says 131 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: about writing twelve D on music because it's exactly mirrored 132 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: my experience, which is you run up and down that 133 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: road matrix like a rat caught in a trap. You know, 134 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: the next pictures are always spelled out for you. Struggling 135 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: to support himself and his new wife, s Cage cycled 136 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: through a variety of jobs up the West Coast, some musical, 137 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:35,840 Speaker 1: some not. Perhaps internalizing Schenberg's criticism, Cage avoided harmony and 138 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:40,720 Speaker 1: opted to work largely with unpitched percussion. But while chimes, silophones, 139 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 1: Tom Tom's and symbols were the norm, Cage arranged for 140 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: his own ear and what he had available auto brake, drums, ratchets, 141 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: tin cans, sheets of metal, and conch shells. The rhythmic 142 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 1: thrust of his music and it's unorthodox orchestration found a 143 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: welcome pairing at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. 144 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 1: Modern interpretive dance and Merce Cunningham. John was open, wasn't 145 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: so much learning as absorbing. As a dancer and choreographer, 146 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: Merce Cunningham was a leading force in twentieth century dance. 147 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 1: He could take something which was unfamiliar and discern something 148 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 1: about it that nobody else, perhaps had even ever figured out. 149 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: Cajun Cunningham collaborated endlessly on multimedia projects, developing their philosophies 150 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,400 Speaker 1: and artist rees in tandem. The partnership would endure for 151 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:47,199 Speaker 1: the rest of Cages life. Cage was commissioned by dancer 152 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: Sylvia Fort to accompany her new piece buckan All. It 153 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:55,760 Speaker 1: would have been perfect to use percussion instruments accompanying her dance, 154 00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:59,199 Speaker 1: but the theater in the Carnegie School had no wings, 155 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:03,680 Speaker 1: and the house was very small, and there was just 156 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: room for our grand piano. So the music had to 157 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: be made on a piano. It couldn't be made with 158 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:14,800 Speaker 1: percussion instruments. And the time was short because she had 159 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: asked me to write the piece on Tuesday and the 160 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:22,440 Speaker 1: performance was on Friday. So I thought, what's wrong is 161 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:28,280 Speaker 1: not me because I'm working his conscientious again. The trouble 162 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 1: is with the piano. So I decided to change it. 163 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:37,240 Speaker 1: Within these limitations, Cage, the consummate inventor, found a spark 164 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:40,480 Speaker 1: of inspiration. I went into the kitchen and got a 165 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:43,000 Speaker 1: pipe plate and came back and put it on the strings, 166 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,000 Speaker 1: and I knew I was going in the right direction 167 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 1: when I heard the sound. But it bounced, so I 168 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:55,000 Speaker 1: I thought, we'll have to put something that'll stay in position, 169 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: and so I got a nail and it slipped. Then 170 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,440 Speaker 1: I got a would screw and with the goose it 171 00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:07,720 Speaker 1: was just right. It stayed in position, and shortly I 172 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:14,000 Speaker 1: had such fascinating possibilities that I wrote the Baccana very quickly. 173 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:20,320 Speaker 1: Cage developed an instrument he would experiment with extensively in 174 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:23,559 Speaker 1: the next decade, and one of his many musical inventions 175 00:11:23,559 --> 00:11:28,080 Speaker 1: that garnered curiosity in his career, the prepared piano. The 176 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:31,319 Speaker 1: basic idea is to augment the instruments sonic range by 177 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 1: placing objects between or along the strings. This was a 178 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 1: complex process for Cage, and a continually evolving array of 179 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:47,080 Speaker 1: preparation techniques, notational methods, and compositions ensued. By the mid forties, 180 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:51,000 Speaker 1: Cage was in some level of personal crisis, perhaps because 181 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: of his financial struggles, his lack of job security, or 182 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 1: because his work was not being properly appreciated. I don't 183 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:02,319 Speaker 1: think you can really talk about it without also talking 184 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:06,199 Speaker 1: about the crisis he went through with his marriage UH. 185 00:12:06,679 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 1: He came out as a gay man. He UH left 186 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:15,000 Speaker 1: Zenion and started living with Merce Cunningham, and it was 187 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 1: a deeply troubled time for him. The distress was evident 188 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 1: more and more Cage channeled powerful, consuming emotions into his 189 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:29,320 Speaker 1: works for Prepared Piano. This came to a head with 190 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:37,599 Speaker 1: the Perilous Night. Cage poured his soul into the composition, 191 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: but reviews were harsh, and looking back, Cage expressed his 192 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:46,840 Speaker 1: satisfaction at the piece, likening it to a tower of battle, 193 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:55,840 Speaker 1: too many voices talking at once. If all the emotion 194 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: he was putting in, all the self expression he was 195 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: channeling through his music, was lost in translation, then what 196 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:07,440 Speaker 1: was the point in Cage began tutoring for free of 197 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:11,880 Speaker 1: course Indian student gitas rob High. He put the question 198 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:15,559 Speaker 1: to her, what is the function of music? Two? Sober 199 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 1: and quiet the mind, thus making one susceptible to divine influences? 200 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:24,760 Speaker 1: That was about her teacher had told her was the 201 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,880 Speaker 1: purpose of music. Therefore it was the traditional purpose from 202 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:35,440 Speaker 1: ancient times. This idea became cages mantra to quiet and 203 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 1: sober the mind meant for him not to express emotions 204 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:40,960 Speaker 1: in his work, as he had done with The Perilous Night. 205 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:45,240 Speaker 1: Quite the opposite. Music should not feel like the composer's 206 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 1: speaking at all. Cage looked for sources that supported his conclusion. 207 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: Like thte century theologian master Eckhart, a man should also 208 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: be free from all things and actions, both inwardly and 209 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: out loudly, or Indian historian and philosopher Ananda K. Kumar Swama. 210 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 1: Our conception of art has essentially the expression of a personality, 211 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: our whole view of genius, are impertinent curiosities about the 212 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:16,720 Speaker 1: artist's private life. All these things are the products of 213 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 1: a perverted individualism and prevent our understanding of the nature 214 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 1: of art. Or Hamlet because there's nothing either good, but 215 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 1: thinking makes it so or Marcel de Champ, the French 216 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 1: born painter and sculptor, is undoubtedly associated with his nineteen 217 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: seventeen work Fountain, a mass produced journal turned upside down 218 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 1: and submitted for gallery display. De Schamp's statement called the 219 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:49,120 Speaker 1: whole social contract of art into question. The advent of 220 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:52,120 Speaker 1: the ready made brazenly decreed that art no longer needed 221 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: to express the views of its creator. It didn't even 222 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:57,520 Speaker 1: need to be manufactured by his or her own hands. 223 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 1: To de Schamp, the transmissi and of meaning through the 224 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,920 Speaker 1: visual aesthetic was nowhere near as important or interesting as 225 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: the intellectual quandary a posed cage looked up to De 226 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:14,480 Speaker 1: Shamp tremendously. I'm very impassed by the idea of Marcel 227 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:19,160 Speaker 1: Duchamp that a work of art is not completed by 228 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 1: the artist, but it is completed by the listener or 229 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: the observer, so that it can change from one person 230 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: to another. As a decoy for his friendship, Cage worked 231 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,520 Speaker 1: up the courage to ask to Shamp, a chess master, 232 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: to teach him the game. They played often for the 233 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:46,960 Speaker 1: next two decades, and even turned in of Chess into 234 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:53,520 Speaker 1: a live musical performance. Cage always lost. And then there's 235 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: Eric sat The Cage never met Sati, who died in 236 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 1: nineteen the older composer gave him considerable influence. In the 237 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, Cage arranged the first ever performance of Vexations, 238 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: a single page of music with a note from the 239 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 1: composer suggesting it be played eight and sixty times in succession. 240 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 1: The concert lasted over eighteen hours by some standards. Satia 241 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:25,160 Speaker 1: has thought of as the precursor to ambient music. Music. 242 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 1: The move Blemont, or furniture music, is how Sati described 243 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 1: a series of short pieces he wrote in the nineteen 244 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 1: tens and twenties. They could be rearranged like furniture as 245 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: the performers saw fit, and repeated endlessly in an effort 246 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 1: to blend into the sounds of the environment. A single 247 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: performance was given during the composer's lifetime stage during the 248 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 1: intermissions of a play, to fill the background while people 249 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: were getting up, going to the bathroom, maybe getting a drink. However, 250 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: when the music began, the audience quieted down, took their seats, 251 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 1: and politely direct did their attention to the orchestra. Despite 252 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:07,359 Speaker 1: Satia's reprobations reportedly shouting, go on, talking, walk about, don't listen. 253 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:12,720 Speaker 1: Sati's experimentation with the fundamental structure of music seemed to 254 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:17,680 Speaker 1: be what informed Cage the most. Certainly, the t offered 255 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:23,439 Speaker 1: the image of a much calmer, not so gold directed music. 256 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:27,160 Speaker 1: It was easy for Cage to use the ty as 257 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:30,240 Speaker 1: proof of his arguments about the rhythmic structure of music 258 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 1: being the important part, and that you could just outline 259 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: a rhythmic structure and then fill it in, which is 260 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 1: what Cage did a whole lot of in the forties, 261 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:41,480 Speaker 1: and in a way you can say he spent the 262 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,359 Speaker 1: rest of his life outlining the rhythmic structure first and 263 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:53,480 Speaker 1: then just coming up with something to fill it. Cage 264 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:55,879 Speaker 1: give a lecture at Vassar College and which he pitched 265 00:17:55,920 --> 00:18:00,320 Speaker 1: some new composition ideas. I have, for instance, several new desires. 266 00:18:00,359 --> 00:18:02,520 Speaker 1: Two of them may seem absurd, but I am serious 267 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:05,679 Speaker 1: about them. First, to compose a piece of uninterrupted silence 268 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 1: and sell it to the music company. It will be 269 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:10,520 Speaker 1: three or four and a half minutes long, these being 270 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,320 Speaker 1: the standard lengths of canned music, and a saddle will 271 00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:19,160 Speaker 1: be silent prayer. The second idea he mentioned was composing 272 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: for twelve radios. It came to fruition in one as 273 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:35,880 Speaker 1: imaginary landscape number four. Silent Prayer is clearly the progenitor 274 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,560 Speaker 1: of fourty three, the title of the proposed piece, As 275 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: Gan points out, it was an undeniable link to their 276 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:46,639 Speaker 1: perennial philosophy by Aldis Huxley, a study of religious theologies 277 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: that Cage cited as one of his most influential reads. 278 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:55,120 Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen is entitled Silent Chapter sixteen Prayer. The main 279 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,120 Speaker 1: difference between Silent Prayer and four thirty three is one 280 00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: of intention. It. Just gribing Silent Prayer, Cage seems less 281 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:05,800 Speaker 1: concerned with sobering and quieting the mind, but with opposition, 282 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:17,639 Speaker 1: perhaps even protest, to the music company Muzak. Those low 283 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: key instrumental arrangements colloquially known as background or elevator music. 284 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 1: By the nineteen forties, the company was spreading from city 285 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:31,399 Speaker 1: to city hawking its catalogs of stimulus progression music. The 286 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 1: conceit was that muzak enhanced workplace productivity and made workers happier. 287 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,959 Speaker 1: Music is now being piped into banks, insurance companies, publishing houses, 288 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:45,120 Speaker 1: and other offices where brain workers find that it lessens 289 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:48,159 Speaker 1: tension and keeps everyone in a happier frame of mind. 290 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:52,480 Speaker 1: Factors that distract attention change of tempo, loud brasses, vocals 291 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:56,919 Speaker 1: are eliminated, orchestras of strings and woodwinds predominate, the tones, 292 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,280 Speaker 1: blending with the surroundings, as do proper colors in a room. 293 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:02,520 Speaker 1: The workers should be no more aware of the music 294 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: than of good lighting. The rhythms reaching him subconsciously create 295 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:10,879 Speaker 1: a feeling of well being and eliminate stream of the 296 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:14,280 Speaker 1: thousands of venues music infiltrated during the era, it meant 297 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 1: formal opposition. In the nation's capital, a public program called 298 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:21,120 Speaker 1: Music as You Ride piped music into d C busses 299 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:25,159 Speaker 1: under the auspices of improving everyone's commute. A group of 300 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:28,320 Speaker 1: opposed writers organized and sued the city, claiming that they 301 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 1: had become a captive audience for corporate interests and that 302 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:35,480 Speaker 1: their First Amendment rights were being violated. The case reached 303 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:38,439 Speaker 1: the Supreme Court, where the judges ruled in favor of 304 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,680 Speaker 1: the city, but the backlash crystallized the way a lot 305 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,200 Speaker 1: of free thinkers felt about Muzak. Well, like most musicians, 306 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: I think most of the words I used for music 307 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 1: would not be sayable on radio. Is a podcast, you 308 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: can say whatever you want, right, Okay, Well, it's awful stuff. 309 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:59,320 Speaker 1: I hate going to the grocery store and listening to 310 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:02,920 Speaker 1: these horrible arrangements of old sixties songs that I thought 311 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:06,919 Speaker 1: would die out decades ago. It's insidious, you know. I 312 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: think the Cages generation was right to be horrified by music, 313 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:12,719 Speaker 1: And it's a terrible thing for a composer, because you're 314 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:14,680 Speaker 1: trying to concentrate on your own music and you good 315 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:18,280 Speaker 1: ideas in your head, and this stuff is just blasting 316 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: at you. The idea that Cage could write a silent 317 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:27,200 Speaker 1: piece the same length of time that music was sold 318 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:31,000 Speaker 1: in it was kind of a political gesture, a freedom 319 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:34,960 Speaker 1: from corporate control for a couple of minutes that later 320 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: turned into the Zen aspect of it we know now, 321 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:40,399 Speaker 1: but it would It's turned out it's kind of a 322 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:45,760 Speaker 1: political protest. Cage's interest in Zen also began with Altis Hucksen. 323 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:50,919 Speaker 1: Huxley pointed out that all the various religions who were 324 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: we're in the same that they simply had different flavors. 325 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,440 Speaker 1: So in his book you were able to taste all 326 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: the various funds, and I found the taste of Zen Buddhism, 327 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:10,520 Speaker 1: Martin mind I king than any other. The embodiment of 328 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:14,359 Speaker 1: Zen involves silencing the ego, that chattering voice in the 329 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: back of your head, working and working, and then in 330 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:25,880 Speaker 1: that silence comes the ability to recognize the innate connection 331 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:30,159 Speaker 1: between all things and furthermore, the lack of difference between 332 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:33,760 Speaker 1: all things. Right after World War two and not not 333 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:37,159 Speaker 1: many people remember, there was a tremendous interest in everything 334 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: Japanese hiku flooded into America. Japanese paintings became very popular, 335 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:48,159 Speaker 1: and he was part of a very broad interest in 336 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: Japanese culture in the art throughout the ages. The philosophy 337 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:55,399 Speaker 1: of Zen tends to be housed in the realm of storytelling. 338 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 1: The what's the sound of one hand? Pappy the Haikup 339 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:07,879 Speaker 1: the old Pond, A frog jumps in pluck. John Cage 340 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:11,440 Speaker 1: was particularly fond of recounting ancdotes about his teacher. I 341 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:17,359 Speaker 1: said Suzuki. I was struck by a story about Suzuki 342 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: di sas he attended an conference of philosophers in Hawaii 343 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:29,720 Speaker 1: and the first day, after a lecture, when they all 344 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:35,439 Speaker 1: went out into the hall, another philosopher asked Suzuki what 345 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:39,040 Speaker 1: he thought of the lecture he had just heard, and 346 00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:43,199 Speaker 1: Suzuki said, it was a very good lecture, but the 347 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: important thing is zen is life. And the next day 348 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:53,439 Speaker 1: there was another lecture, and the same philosopher asked him 349 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:56,600 Speaker 1: after that one what he thought of it, and he 350 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:01,640 Speaker 1: said it was also very good, but the important thing 351 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:08,880 Speaker 1: is zen is death. And the philosophy was surprised and said, 352 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:13,439 Speaker 1: how can you say life one day and death the next? 353 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:19,720 Speaker 1: And Suzuki said, and then there isn't much difference between. 354 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,240 Speaker 1: He said. It was then that saved him from needing 355 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:27,760 Speaker 1: psychoanalysis and helped him find some calm in his life. 356 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:31,760 Speaker 1: I think his personality went through a big change around ninety. 357 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 1: He became kind of saintly and humorous and much calmer 358 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:42,640 Speaker 1: and he was, he was amazing figure. After that as 359 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: an approach, completely reshapes how one looks at four three. 360 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 1: Gan writes in his book, the sense phenomenon, no matter 361 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:55,359 Speaker 1: how small or ephemeral, is not trivial, because the meaning 362 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: or meaninglessness, if you prefer, of all existence is in 363 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:04,080 Speaker 1: caps related within it. Substitute for the PLoP of that frog, 364 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:08,159 Speaker 1: any sound that one might hear during four three, the 365 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:10,600 Speaker 1: rain pattering on the roof of the Maverick Concert Hall, 366 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:15,600 Speaker 1: for instance, and the connection between cages, silent peace and 367 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:20,439 Speaker 1: zen starts to emerge if you are able to appreciate, 368 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: at least on an intellectual level, that from a zen standpoint, 369 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:27,159 Speaker 1: there is no difference between playing a note and not 370 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:30,119 Speaker 1: playing a note. The chord on the piano and a 371 00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:33,199 Speaker 1: call from an audience member behind you, and the pattern 372 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,520 Speaker 1: of the rain on the Maverick Concert Hall roof are 373 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:40,520 Speaker 1: not different but the same thing. Then you may be 374 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:42,680 Speaker 1: able to think of four thirty three as something more 375 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:46,879 Speaker 1: profound than a joke, a hoax, or a deliberately provocative 376 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:51,199 Speaker 1: and nihilistic active data. If you can turn toward the 377 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,280 Speaker 1: whir of the wind in the oak trees, or the 378 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:55,679 Speaker 1: pulse of the ceiling fan the same attention you were 379 00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,879 Speaker 1: about to turn to the melodies of the pianist. You 380 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,120 Speaker 1: may have a few moments of realizing that the division 381 00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:05,879 Speaker 1: you habitually maintained between art and life, between beautiful things 382 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 1: and commonplace ones, is artificial, and that making it separates 383 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: you off from life and deadens you to the magic 384 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:20,960 Speaker 1: around you. While Zen would continue to be an influence 385 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,000 Speaker 1: on Cage for the rest of his life, he never 386 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: took up one of its fundamental practices, sas and meditation. 387 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:31,639 Speaker 1: Instead of sitting cross legged and reflection, Cage formulated music 388 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:34,840 Speaker 1: to quiet the mind. The ego has the capacity to 389 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:39,159 Speaker 1: cut itself off from the rest of mind or to 390 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: flow with it, and it does that by developing likes 391 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:51,800 Speaker 1: and discikes, taste in memory. And if you do is 392 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,560 Speaker 1: Zen wants you to do, get a free of your 393 00:26:55,600 --> 00:27:02,199 Speaker 1: tastes and memory and likes and discikes. H then you 394 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:16,520 Speaker 1: have to discipline yourself. And my discipline was that of 395 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:24,200 Speaker 1: the eaching and shifting my responsibility from making choices to 396 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 1: asking questions and getting the answers by means whom they 397 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:38,159 Speaker 1: ancient kin testing method of the eaching. The eaching is 398 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: an ancient divination method of Chinese descent. You pose a 399 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,880 Speaker 1: quandary to the eaching, any sort of dilemma you'd request 400 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:49,359 Speaker 1: oracular guidance on. Three coins are tossed. Each heads is 401 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:53,080 Speaker 1: worth three, each tails is worth two. Add them up. 402 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: The possible sums six through nine each correspond to a 403 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:02,360 Speaker 1: style of line. Would you then draw? Repeat this process 404 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:06,879 Speaker 1: five more times, stacking the lines vertically going upwards, so 405 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,600 Speaker 1: you end up with a stack of six lines hexagram. 406 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,640 Speaker 1: This is called There are sixty four possible hexagrams. Each 407 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:15,880 Speaker 1: is accompanied by a text that you are then left 408 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:20,639 Speaker 1: to interpret to your situation. I think the philosophy of 409 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:27,120 Speaker 1: the eaching is that everything that happens is part of 410 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:31,880 Speaker 1: a specific, unique moment and fits that moment. So if 411 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:34,439 Speaker 1: you consult the eaching, it will give you a number 412 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 1: and a reading that have to be right for that moment. 413 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:43,560 Speaker 1: It's just a face in giving yourself up to randomness 414 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:46,800 Speaker 1: and maybe kind of a roar shock test that reading 415 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 1: that reading at your particular moment is going to be 416 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,800 Speaker 1: just the right thing for you. But whereas one might 417 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: normally ask the eaching for career, relationship or spiritual advice, 418 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 1: Cage went beyond asking for music advice. Somehow he translated 419 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:07,880 Speaker 1: that into the idea that the eaching would always give 420 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:12,320 Speaker 1: him just the right sound at the right moment. He 421 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: ranged three charts, each with the possible hexagrams. The first 422 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:21,080 Speaker 1: contained rhythmic patterns to determine duration, the second sonorities, and 423 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:25,320 Speaker 1: the third corresponded to dynamic markings. By this method, Cage 424 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: painstakingly composed Music of Changes, a single phrase of music 425 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:41,360 Speaker 1: at a time David Tudor debuted at so the notes 426 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:44,680 Speaker 1: and pieces like Music of Changes that were written with 427 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:49,680 Speaker 1: the eaching are records of what eaching numbers came up 428 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:56,600 Speaker 1: at that particular time. He used a similar technique to 429 00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:59,760 Speaker 1: compose four thirty three, but simply omitted the charts for 430 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 1: pit dynamics, requiring only chance determination of the length. You 431 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:09,040 Speaker 1: won't believe this, probably that I wrote for thirty three 432 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:13,640 Speaker 1: a note by note, and all of the notes were silent, 433 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:18,480 Speaker 1: but they all had different lengths, and when I added 434 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:22,640 Speaker 1: them all up, they came to four thirty three. That 435 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 1: same year, Cage's friend and collaborator Robert Roschenberg, lit his 436 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,440 Speaker 1: own fire in the art world. The white paintings are 437 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: exactly what they sound like a series of modular panels 438 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:38,200 Speaker 1: painted in all white. But despite claims of Emperor's new clothes, prank, hoax, 439 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,920 Speaker 1: and stunt, the critical response has shifted dramatically over time. 440 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:45,560 Speaker 1: From the Museum of Modern Arts website, Rosenberg's primary aim 441 00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:48,520 Speaker 1: was to create a painting that looked untouched by human hands, 442 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:51,200 Speaker 1: and so it's simply arrived in the world, fully formed 443 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:55,760 Speaker 1: and absolutely pure. From the Guggenheim. Rachenberg's uninflicted all white 444 00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:59,960 Speaker 1: surfaces eliminated gesture and denied all possibility of narrative or 445 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 1: external reference. Cage, as you can surmise, wasn't thralled. What 446 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:08,920 Speaker 1: could be freer from likes and dislikes Again, Cage saw 447 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:11,280 Speaker 1: the rules of art changing and a pathway opening up 448 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 1: before him. Cage would later say the push to finish 449 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: four thirty three required not guts but the example of 450 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:22,600 Speaker 1: Robert Rachenburg, and in the introduction to his n books Silence, 451 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:25,760 Speaker 1: Cage makes sure the score is set straight to whom 452 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: it may concern. The white paintings came first, My silent 453 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:36,640 Speaker 1: peace came later. The culmination of all of this may 454 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:39,560 Speaker 1: have been enough, but there was one more stop on 455 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:42,920 Speaker 1: the path to four three. It was after I got 456 00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:47,760 Speaker 1: to Boston that I went into the Anacoi chamber at 457 00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:55,560 Speaker 1: Harvard University. Anybody who knows me knows this story. I 458 00:31:55,600 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 1: am constantly telling it. An antacoic chamber, as in echo three, 459 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,320 Speaker 1: is a padded room specifically designed to absorb all sound reflections. 460 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: They're usually in laboratories or universities, like the one Cage 461 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:13,680 Speaker 1: visited at Harvard, and used for designing technology or studying acoustics. Anyway, 462 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:18,680 Speaker 1: in that silent room, I heard two sons, one high 463 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 1: and one low. Afterward, I asked the engineer in charge, 464 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 1: why if the room was so silent, I had heard 465 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:37,160 Speaker 1: two sounds. He said, described them I did. He said, 466 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:44,080 Speaker 1: the high one was your nervous system in operation. The 467 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:50,960 Speaker 1: low one was your blood in the circulation. The way 468 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 1: Cage tells the story, this was the moment that secured 469 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:57,960 Speaker 1: it for him. For the first time, he was sure 470 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: there was no such thing silence. I found out that silence, 471 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 1: as the absence of sound, doesn't exist. Those two sounds 472 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 1: are built in to the listener. I don't intend my 473 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:18,720 Speaker 1: blood to circulate, it just circulates. And I don't intend 474 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:27,800 Speaker 1: my nervous system two be turned on it just is. Therefore, 475 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:34,800 Speaker 1: silence is non intention. Add to the list of definitions. 476 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:39,080 Speaker 1: A work governed only by duration, a frame drawn to 477 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:43,240 Speaker 1: focus your attention, a blank canvas altered by the presence 478 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:48,200 Speaker 1: of the listener, a rejection of taste, a demonstration of 479 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:52,960 Speaker 1: the fact that silence is not silent, a display of nonintention, 480 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:57,360 Speaker 1: a respite from the noisy world, not of sound, but 481 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:06,560 Speaker 1: of one's own mind, a meditation. Cage was dismissed for 482 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:08,880 Speaker 1: four thirty three and a lot of other things he 483 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:15,720 Speaker 1: did by the real snooty classical critics at the large, 484 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:19,960 Speaker 1: big city newspapers, but he was very warmly treated by 485 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:24,120 Speaker 1: critics all across the country, and you know, non music critics, 486 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:26,919 Speaker 1: I mean just people who wrote about him, and they 487 00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:31,920 Speaker 1: really get four thirty three. It's not a hard piece 488 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:37,879 Speaker 1: to explain why he did it or what the experience 489 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:40,879 Speaker 1: of listening to it means. I think in the book 490 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:43,279 Speaker 1: I say it's his best understood piece and his least 491 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:48,040 Speaker 1: understood piece. Well. Four three eventually became an obligatory mention 492 00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: in the composer's byline. The piece was by no means 493 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:56,120 Speaker 1: famous overnight for a decade after Cage wrote for thirty three. 494 00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:58,640 Speaker 1: I don't think it's I don't think I got much 495 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:01,600 Speaker 1: traction at all. Don't think many people found out about it. 496 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:06,680 Speaker 1: He was still not very well known after he wrote it. 497 00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:12,160 Speaker 1: He only mentioned the piece twice in his book Silence. Silence, 498 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:14,839 Speaker 1: a collection of cages lectures and essays from the last 499 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:20,400 Speaker 1: two decades, was published in through Wesleyan University Press. In 500 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 1: large part, it's a manifesto of what Cage had come 501 00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,960 Speaker 1: to believe about music. It was Silence that made him 502 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:31,520 Speaker 1: famous in nineteen so I think the piece took a 503 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,120 Speaker 1: long time to get off the ground, and it really 504 00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:40,319 Speaker 1: became famous because everybody read Cage's fantastic book, and the 505 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:45,319 Speaker 1: book made him financially successful and secured his career, and 506 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:49,280 Speaker 1: four thirty three became kind of the emblem of the book. 507 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:51,680 Speaker 1: I mean, the book is called Silence. They're very closely 508 00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:57,000 Speaker 1: associated now. Keijan thought resonated particularly with the next generation 509 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:03,560 Speaker 1: of composers. Minimalism music, concred and acousmatic music, two works 510 00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:06,720 Speaker 1: that criss cross pop in the avant garde. Like Laurie Anderson. 511 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:09,239 Speaker 1: I suppose that's what I like a lot about Cage. 512 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:13,160 Speaker 1: He's pretty funny. It makes me laugh, I Trista, John 513 00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:18,520 Speaker 1: Lennon and Yoko Ono, and any piece who's intents are 514 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,320 Speaker 1: spelled out in a note from the composer, like Lamont 515 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:25,680 Speaker 1: Young's composition, which consists of instructions like the performer should 516 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:27,600 Speaker 1: prepare any composition and then perform it as well as 517 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:31,520 Speaker 1: he can. Cage himself conceived of two sequels zero zero 518 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,160 Speaker 1: zero in a situation, provided with maximum amplification, performing disciplined 519 00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:38,040 Speaker 1: action and one cube booty sound system in the concert 520 00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:39,520 Speaker 1: hole so that the whole thing is on the edge 521 00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:43,640 Speaker 1: of feedback. It's out actually feeding back. For thirty three 522 00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:47,240 Speaker 1: has been performed by countless individuals, symphonies, high school students, 523 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:50,759 Speaker 1: rock bands, techno artists. One of the most famous renditions 524 00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:54,680 Speaker 1: by the BBC Symphony Orchestra was broadcast live over Radio three. 525 00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:57,960 Speaker 1: It's made its way into the pop sphere two recorded 526 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,280 Speaker 1: by the likes of Frank's Appa and The Magnetic Feel Else. 527 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:05,680 Speaker 1: It was even somewhat flippantly turned into a Ringtown dance 528 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:09,279 Speaker 1: book provides a detailed discography of fourty three. There are 529 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 1: a lot of recordings at four thirty three, and there 530 00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:12,880 Speaker 1: are three ways to do it. Wanted just to have 531 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:17,480 Speaker 1: a blank section on your disk, nothing on there at all. 532 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:23,799 Speaker 1: What most people out for is recording some natural environment 533 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:25,960 Speaker 1: like that. I heard a recording made at a in 534 00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:30,520 Speaker 1: a lush tropical forest in Japan with the brook running 535 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:34,560 Speaker 1: and everything, and some people like Frank Zapp is recording 536 00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:38,640 Speaker 1: actually perform it and record themselves performing it, and you 537 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,520 Speaker 1: can tell they're there. And at the end of his recording, 538 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:45,560 Speaker 1: Frank Zappa gets up and walks away, and so you're 539 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:48,359 Speaker 1: listening to it, and you're listening to nothing except maybe 540 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:50,520 Speaker 1: you hear a little bit of shuffling or anything. And 541 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:52,520 Speaker 1: then at the end he said, oh, that's Frank Zapple 542 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:57,880 Speaker 1: walking away. We'll take this Zappa option. I encourage you, 543 00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:01,000 Speaker 1: wherever you are, whatever you're doing, to stop and take 544 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:05,600 Speaker 1: seventy three seconds to just be quiet and listen. Afterwards, 545 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:08,799 Speaker 1: this music will click on. It was composed with chance 546 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:12,480 Speaker 1: methods and features my college professor Francisco Albo giving me 547 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:16,520 Speaker 1: feedback on my paper about John Cage Stop Watching. Three 548 00:38:16,760 --> 00:43:14,440 Speaker 1: to one one Ephemeral is written, is sampled by and 549 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:18,600 Speaker 1: produced by Annie Reese, Matt Frederick, and Tristan McNeil, with 550 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:23,080 Speaker 1: additional mixing from Josh Thin and technical assistance from Sherry Larson. 551 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:27,880 Speaker 1: I cannot recommend Kyle Gan's work enough. No such thing 552 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,280 Speaker 1: as Silence is just one of many books and articles 553 00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:33,959 Speaker 1: he has written. And his music is fantastic too. Learn 554 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,279 Speaker 1: more about him at kyle gan dot com and more 555 00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:42,160 Speaker 1: on everything you heard here at ephemeral dot schet means much. 556 00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:47,960 Speaker 1: I feel us visus what the bar scooch those the 557 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:52,719 Speaker 1: pilots is um music is not about about something. He's 558 00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:56,120 Speaker 1: not about the expression of the composed music is the 559 00:43:56,200 --> 00:44:00,400 Speaker 1: embodiment and we have to either observer works. Don't know, 560 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:10,200 Speaker 1: but I think this is the super rises question in business. 561 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:25,800 Speaker 1: Next time on the season finale of the summer and 562 00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:29,920 Speaker 1: cleaning on a closet, we found some old dick to belt. 563 00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:36,160 Speaker 1: I've tried to rig up the machine to see if 564 00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:41,000 Speaker 1: we could pick up some right. This is an odd tape. 565 00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:45,879 Speaker 1: This is a bit historical story. The problem is thirty 566 00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:47,840 Speaker 1: one years of magnetic decoration. I have no idea what 567 00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:51,160 Speaker 1: it's gonna look like. These are role These are about 568 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:54,919 Speaker 1: five different takes or spliced together. Here they're a take. 569 00:44:56,040 --> 00:44:58,840 Speaker 1: The images were jumping, the sound got worked. Don't know 570 00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:02,399 Speaker 1: whether it sure it sure, It seems like a cool 571 00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:06,719 Speaker 1: She was afraid she would forget what it sounded like. 572 00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:13,200 Speaker 1: Forty years shorty one years later, I can't understand why 573 00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:17,799 Speaker 1: I recorded so much of it, disbelief that anyone ever 574 00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:20,400 Speaker 1: would be interested in listening to this. How nice it 575 00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:23,640 Speaker 1: is for us to be in here playing with this machine, 576 00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:32,120 Speaker 1: like years of recording over the same tape. Yeah, I 577 00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:36,759 Speaker 1: don't think there's any audio really, so I don't think 578 00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:47,040 Speaker 1: there's much. Visit is in the world wide and interact 579 00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:54,680 Speaker 1: with this, and so the media at the room. It's 580 00:45:54,719 --> 00:46:01,040 Speaker 1: on rock podcast and media is that I radio app, 581 00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:06,960 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts or wherever you list in your favorite chairs,