5 upvotes, 3 direct replies (showing 3)
View submission: John Cage 4’33
I like how you articulated that. I think it would also be more impactful if I saw the performance live.
Comment by Arvot at 02/02/2025 at 11:18 UTC
30 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Thanks, yeah live is how it's meant to be experienced. The story goes that John Cage went to an anechoic chamber at Harvard. It's a room designed so that no sound is reflected off the walls and is the closest thing to complete silence we can experience. When he went there he could still hear this high pitched noise and another sound that was a low hum. He was devastated as he was fascinated by silence and he thought he would be able to experience it in that room. The scientists told him the high pitched noise was the sound of his nervous system and the low hum was his organs. So we as humans can never know true silence as long as we're alive. I'm guessing he probably already knew that would happen but that doesn't make as good a story.
Comment by jzemeocala at 02/02/2025 at 12:03 UTC
15 upvotes, 0 direct replies
When I used to play in bands and we were about to take a break I would often say something like "and now, we present you with 4:33 by John Cage"
And then we would walk offstage
Comment by bjanas at 02/02/2025 at 14:55 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Came here to say this. It's different live; is a communal "moment it silence" that's unique from rememberances and the like. It does somehow put you in a different brain space.