John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr.was an American composer, music theorist, writer, and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth5 September 1912
CountryUnited States of America
In the nature of the use of chance operations is the belief that all answers answer all questions.
Artists talk a lot about freedom. So, recalling the expression "free as a bird," Morton Feldman went to a park one day and spent some time watching our feathered friends. When he came back, he said, "You know? They're not free: they're fighting over bits of food.
It's useless to play lullabies for those who cannot sleep.
If this word "music" is sacred and reserved for eighteenth and nineteenth century instruments, we can substitute a more meaningful term: organization of sound.
Composing for the prepared piano is not a criticism of the instrument. I'm only being practical.
If you don't have enough time to accomplish something, consider the work finished once it's begun.
Combine nursing homes with nursery schools. Bring very old and very young together: they interest one another.
We are involved in a life that passes understanding and our highest business is our daily life.
The world, the real is not an object. It is a process.
I remember loving sound before I ever took a music lesson. And so we make our lives by what we love.
My favorite music is the music I haven't yet heard
Guy Nearing told us it's a good idea when hunting mushrooms to have a pleasant goal, a waterfall for instance, and, having reached it, to return another way. When, however, we're obliged to go and come back by the same path, returning we notice mushrooms we hadn't noticed going out.
If someone says can't, that shows you what to do.
Where does beauty begin? Where does it end? Where it ends is where the artist begins.