Every something is an echo of nothing
Listen.
What do you hear?
The sound of cars, co-workers talking, birds singing? You are surrounded by countless sounds right now, even if you are not focusing on them. If you think you are in silence, stop reading for ten seconds and listen. Hear it now? At the very least, you will hear your breathing and your heartbeat.
In the early fifties, one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, John Cage, created the unusual piece 4′33″. Here is one version performed by William Marx:
At first glance, there seems to be no composition here at all, and the whole thing looks like a joke or a parody. But the author did not want it to be perceived as a joke.
What Cage was actually trying to show with this piece was the role of context in music.
Where we are, what mood we are in, and what we are focused on all shape how we perceive music. 4′33″ strips everything down to context and shows that the “music” begins sounding before the performance starts and does not fall silent after it ends.
Inspired by Cage’s piece, I recorded my own version of 4′33″.
I recommend listening in headphones at a comfortable volume.