John Cage knows that you can find mushrooms in autumn

John Cage is considered to be a pioneer of electronic music. One of his most famous works, though, "4,33" uses neither acoustic nor electronic instruments, because it´s composed as a work of silence by Cage. The only advise the musicians (it´s free to decide for the performers which instruments they´re going to not play - whether acoustic or electroacoustic ones) find in the partiture is "tacet" - Keep silent. I find John Cages ideas that lead him to create a music piece of silence, interesting: The idea that silence forms an equal part of each sound we´re hearing and using, the idea that each sound, each timbre, each loudness and melody needs the pure silence to be considered as sound.

Listen to the silence

But honestly, I wouldn´t attend a concert where "4,33" is performed. I thank him that he gives me the chance to think about this fact, but I think Cage himself would be laughing about people that in these days are pilgrimaging to concert halls, still sitting there, frozen in their chairs, listening to silence. For me, "4,33" is more a thought, an attitude of reflecting your own way of consuming music, than a work.

Another work that characterizes Cage more as the pioneer of electronic music, though he actually didn´t use electronic equipment, is "Imaginary Landscape Nr. 1". A chinese cymbal, Cages famous prepared piano make the acoustic part, records with sound for testing turntables on them form as well the electronic as also the improvised part - Cage didn´t know the sounds that came from the reords.

His unusal attention for technical things that are sneakily conquering men´s life (like background noise, etc) makes him a recommendable author and musician. But also, I think he was "just" a very attentive person, his thoughts and ideas for works are, in fact, very simple. "I knew that there was a japenese haiku about mushrooms. haikus are always connected to seasons. And why I wanted to find an autumn poem I knew it would be about mushrooms, because in autumn you can find mushrooms" (Mushroom Haiku, excerpt from Silence)