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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Happy 100th Birthday John Cage

Today is John Cage's 100th Birthday. I was looking for his home page to post on the library Facebook page and found it.
johncage.org
In clicking around and through the site, I selected Indeterminacy and this was what was displayed:

"I     went     to     hear     Krishnamurti     speak.
                                            He     was
  lecturing                on     how     to     hear
    a     lecture.
                                                He     said,
                                 “You     must     pay
   full     attention     to     what     is     being
    said                 and     you     can’t     do
   that     if     you     take     notes.”
                                                The   
lady     on     my     right     was     taking   
notes.
                                     The     man     on
    her     right     nudged      her      and     
said,                                    “Don’t      you
     hear      what      he’s      saying?
                                    You’re      not
 supposed      to      take      notes.”
                                               She      then
     read      what      she      had      written
  and      said,                                   
“That’s      right.
             I      have      it      written      down
     right       here       in       my       notes.”"

When the process of note-taking distracts us from the process of listening. When the process of doing distracts us from listening. I don't agree with all of Cage's philosophy of approaching music and composition. But he worked and hung out with a lot of the same people that Stefan Wolpe did and like Wolpe has much to say on the relationship of opposites, sound and silence, movement and stillness.

1 comment:

Bart Trotman said...

We celebrated Cage's 100th by eating our cake and playing it too!


http://youtu.be/qwsk8DT0Svs