Can it be music? : The work of John Cage

As an artist and performer, I've always had an interest in music. As a kid, I remember staging backseat shows to pop music on long car rides, being the best Cotton Eye Joe dancer at family gatherings, and belting my heart out every day in choir class. However, I always struggled to understand some key components of music. Things such as matching pitch or reading music would often make me feel frustrated and confused, making me believe I was never destined to be a music artist. My recent exposure to the great work of John Cage has shown me how wrong I was. 

Within his piece Water Walk, John Cage displays that anything and everything is music. While the nicer-sounding examples of music may be a bit more complicated, music can consist of the noise that comes from basic tasks such as watering a plant. Cage shows that it's not the complexity behind the music, but the passion and intention for making the sound. The simplicity behind this was shocking. It's understandable when one watches the Water Walk video and notices that Cage performs with such a serious intent, making purposeful sounds with the utmost precision, all while the audience is laughing at his work. I questioned how Cage must’ve felt at this, but a deeper thought made me realize his brilliance. The contradiction between his serious intent and the audience’s comedic reception highlights that Cage has successfully used his intent to impact the audience. The sound he made was interesting enough to get a reaction because he made it with purpose and pride, no matter how odd it was. The sound and performance made people think. I can name countless stereotypical music that has done less. In this, I realize that music isn't always about how good it sounds. It's about the impact it has and the perception audiences have of it. It is about the heart and soul that goes into it. This is where the most successful music comes from. 

Going forward, I hope to utilize sound within my art. I want to impact people with the noise I create. Whether this is something relating to a harp or a garbage truck, my sound will have an impact. Audio is such an important aspect to consider when it comes to art, one I feel is very forgotten about. I question how Cage’s work would be perceived if the audience in the Water Walk video only got to hear the piece instead of seeing it performed live. He was selling recordings of it after all. I couldn't imagine it having the same impact. Like I said, I found his serious performance to have been a foundation of the general concept. It grounded the piece and gave it character. Without the visualization of the performance, it could all just sound like nonsense. 

Photo by Paul Bergen