Perceiving the Music of John Cage:An Examination of his Methods and Intentions
by Brittney Saline

Weary of expressing emotions through music, twentieth-century composer John Cage invented compositional techniques to write music that could, literally, become the ideas he was trying to express. Drawing inspiration from East Asian thought, and believing all sound to be excellent, he employed all types of sonorities in his work. Such creative open-mindedness often resulted in music comprised of dissonance and produced by unconventional instrumental means. Critics and the public alike have embraced such art with difficulty, and Cage's creations have often been ostracized at worst or misunderstood at best. Whether listeners enjoy Cage's work sensuously or intellectually, comprehending his music and appreciating his methods will broaden understanding of the ways in which music can function in society.

In the late 1940s, Cage began to tire of using music to convey an emotion. He had just completed his work for prepared piano The Perilous Night, an attempt to convey sentiments of the monstrosity of war, as well as the emotional tumult of his recent separation from his wife Xenia.[1] A critic characterized the work, disparagingly, as "a woodpecker in a church belfry."[2] Such misconception of Cage's intent led him to seek other purposes for creating music. He says of the matter:

I could not accept the academic idea that the purpose of music was communication, because I noticed that when I conscientiously wrote something sad, people people and critics were often apt to laugh. I determined to give up composition unless I could find a better reason for doing it than communication.[3]

Denouncing Cage's music as pretentious and unapproachable, critics often claimed that the inability of many audiences to resonate with it emotionally shows it to be meaningless. The question that such critics pose is this: What is the purpose of music?

[1] Peter Dickinson, ed., Cage Talk. (New York: University of Rochester Press, 2006): 35.

[2] David Nicholls, John Cage (Urbana and Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2007): 35.

[3] David Nicholls, John Cage: 34-35.