Reaction 3: John Cage

After playing flute classically for 10 years, I have heard a lot about John Cage; mostly about 4:33. However, I never realized that in addition to composing, Cage dabbled in so many other art forms. Having now learned about his work in composition and musical performance, I wonder if his art reflects the same elements; changing the use of something to make a whole new tool. Besides his art, though, I was very impressed by Cage's stoicism during performance. In the Paik tribute, you can literally feel the tension of the people staring at Cage, wondering what in the world he's doing sitting there with the stopwatch and the closed piano lid and asking each other when the music will start. Cage, however, sits there like a statue; seemingly immune to the doubt and skepticism going on around him.

The first thing I noticed about John Cage was how happy he was about what he does. I never realized what he was trying to do via his music; "to begin to like what we dislike makes the world more open". After hearing this, I became much more appreciative of his art. It was shocking that Cage started so early in his life to move away from the conventional approach to music; the music he composed for the dancer, "In the Name of the Holocaust" was already very indicative of what he would later move on to do. However, much of his work does not speak to me. Maybe it's because I have a preconcieved notion of what music is, ingrained by my classical flute playing, but much of his work does not appeal to me as much as his pure intention does. However, John Cage was also classically trained; it makes me wonder how he can separate his instinct from this training apart from his completely unharmonious composition.