Reading Blog #2: John Cage's Art of Noise

Reading the article in the New Yorker about the life and musical endeavors of John Cage has certainly entertained me. I feel that most biographies are long, boring, bland, and most often not all that interesting to me. To be honest, I am not really sure how many biographies I've actually even tried to read. However, this article was certainly the most captivating of biographies that I have attempted to devour. The amount of direct quotes from John Cage was delightful. I felt that there was an overall humorous tone to the writing, which helped paint an idea of John Cage's work. I enjoyed hearing about the outlandishness of some of his performances, the general distaste that a lot of the spectators had for some pieces, and the influence that these works had on the future of art and music. It makes me wonder how I would react to some of these works if I had been subjected to them back in the mid-late 1900s. I think that 4'33 would have definitely confused me at first. I am not sure that it would have been my favorite song, but the general idea might have given me some amusement. I may have even enjoyed that he had given me the space to really engage with my surroundings, to just sit and listen. I also think that the Water Walk performance would have been fun to see. I am not sure if I would have liked other performances, for example, the piece with the piano alterations definitely would have made me uncomfortable. I think that John Cage's personal style is admirable and entertaining, and his originality paved way for new sounds to arrive into the world of art and music.