tet.
Novel music demanded novel notation. The score for one piece consisted of the single sentence:
"In a situation provided with maximum amplification (no feedback), perform a disciplined action."
Cage's most famous work, however, was the controversial Four Minutes and
Thirty-Three Seconds (4'33"), consisting of a musician sitting in front of
a piano playing absolutely nothing. Cage had conceived of the work many years
before it was actually performed, delaying its debut because he rightly believed
that people wouldn't take it seriously. In fact, it was intended to make people
aware of listening to the sounds that occur around us all of the time. Cursing
patrons, crying babies -- they're all part of life's music, and the backdrop against
which Cage invented.
"No day goes by without my making use of that piece in my life and in my work,"
proclaimed Cage. "I listen to it every day. Yes I do."
There are those who claim Cage is the most important composer of the twentieth century,
just as there are those feel his life's work was intended as a joke; an audio version
of the king's new clothes. For myself, having been exposed to Cage's "inventiveness,"
I know of only one thing for certain: I've never since listened to any piece of music
quite the same way.
[5 seconds of awkward silence]
I'm Andy Boyd, at the University of Houston,
where we're interested in the way inventive minds
Dr. Andrew Boyd is Chief Scientist and Senior Vice President at PROS, a provider of provider of
pricing and revenue optimization solutions. Dr. Boyd received his A.B. with Honors at Oberlin
College with majors in Mathematics and Economics in 1981, and his Ph.D. in Operations Research
from MIT in 1987. Prior to joining PROS, he enjoyed a successful ten-year career as a university
Many thanks to John Whiting for his eyewitness details regarding performances of Imaginary
Landscape No. 2. Some of the material for this essay was taken from William Duckworth's
interview with John Cage late in the composer's life as captured in Talking Music, Da
Capo Press, 1999, first published by Schirmer Books, New York, 1995.
For a chronological list of Cage's major works, see
Prepared Piano (Image by JHL)
The Engines of Our Ingenuity is
Copyright © 1988-2005 by John H.