tags: mus-407 musique-concrete electroacoustic music

John Cage

John Cage (1912-1992) was a [composer] who focused on the conceptual expansion of music.

• use of silence
• works for percussion ensemble
• works for prepared piano
• use of indeterminacy/chance
• separation of musical form from content

Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (1939)

• composition for cymbals, piano & test tones on variable speed discs early work
• explicitly composed for [recording] technology

Music of Changes (1951)

Indeterminate piano music using I Ching Chinese divination system

Williams Mix (1951-53)

Indeterminate composition for [sounds] recorded on magnetic [tape]

4'33 (1952)

• composition for any number and type of instruments
• 4m 33s of composed "silence"

Sources

• MUS 407 The Studio Age: Musique Concrète