The Sound of Silence (by Regina)

Around the time of the rise of Dadaism in the art world another movement was emerging in the music sphere, Aleatoric music. In this the composer would leave certain elements of the composition up to chance. Someone very influential in this field was the American composer, John Cage (1912-1992). Cage was trained like many others before and after him by the traditions and systems of traditional music theory and its focus on pitch and harmony when composing. 

In some ways some parallels can be drawn between Cage and Adorno and Horkheimer's criticisms of the culture industry at the time. One such criticism focused on how the cultural industry had become a source of constraint, in which a system of uniform production in all aspects was being adapted. In the same way Cage wanted to break away from the constraints of traditional music composition. As opposed to composition focused on harmony and melody, Cage wanted centre his compositions more around percussion for instance (Revill, n.d.).

However, unlike Adorno and Horkheimer who illustrated their reverence for classical art and culture through their criticism of commercial culture, Cage turned to Aleatoric music which like the Dada movement at the time turned away from that traditional art. This is where a clear separation between Adorno, Horkheimer and Cage can be seen. While the German scholars criticised the culture industry for blurring the line between the audience and the piece of work, Cage’s works completely step over it. 

One such way he did this was by replacing traditional instruments with everyday items. In particular this can be seen with his piece Imaginary Landscape No. 4 which was composed for 12 radio receivers. In the score, Cage dictated the ways the players should set their radios as well as dictating at which points they should be changed however, he had no control over what would be played from the radios, this was the chance element (Sweetwater, 2004). Another example is Water Walk which involves various household items being touched and moved around in various ways. 

(Top: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 Score; Bottom: Water Walk Score)

The most notable example of this removal of the line between audience and work is with Cage’s piece 4’33”. This piece is written for any instrument of ensemble and consists of four minutes and 33 seconds of silence. However, this is not to say that the audience is placed into a state of complete silence, instead the random shuffles, coughs and other such sounds become more apparent as the lack of music continues. 

This is a good illustration of how Cage used his music to move away from the classical composition of people like Beethoven and Mozart which he saw as works which transport or protect the audience “from the noises of everyday life” (Revill, n.d.). Instead, everyday life noises are embraced in pieces like 4’3” or Water Walk. Through this the audience and the piece of work are not separate but instead merged in such a way that the audience experiences and creates the art, which Cage eventually thought would lead to them “[hearing] unsuspected beauty in their everyday life” (Revill, n.d.).

Imaginary Landscape No. 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPfwrFl1FHM

Water Walk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXOIkT1-QWY

4'33": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTEFKFiXSx4

Work Cited 

Adorno, T. W., & Bernstein, J. M. (2001). The culture industry: Selected essays on mass culture. London: Routledge.

Revill, D. John Cage. Retrieved 22 February 2021, from https://www.pas.org/about/hall-of-fame/john-cage

Sweetwater. (2004). Aleatoric Music (Composition). Retrieved 22 February 2021, from https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/aleatoric-music-composition/#:~:text=Aleatoric%20Music%20or%20Aleatoric%20Composition,composition%20is%20left%20to%20chance.&text=Music%20related%20to%20the%20aleatoric,in%20music%20in%20the%201950s.