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109th out of 699 books
—
479 voters
Silence: Lectures and Writings
by
John Cage
John Cage is the outstanding composer of avant-garde music today. The Saturday Review said of him: "Cage possesses one of the rarest qualities of the true creator- that of an original mind- and whether that originality pleases, irritates, amuses or outrages is irrelevant." "He refuses to sermonize or pontificate. What John Cage offers is more refreshing, more spirited, muc...more
Paperback, 312 pages
Published
June 1st 1961
by Wesleyan
(first published January 1st 1961)
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Apr 20, 2007
Kelly
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Musique concrète lovers
Shelves:
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i couldn't make heads or tails of this book. i'm sure there are deep truths to be gleaned, but i couldn't glean them. i would have rather not tried to rate it at all because i don't feel like i ever read the book in anything more than the "processed the words" sense, but i settled on three stars because it seemed neutral and there's no "no rating" option; and i decided to post this review for the benefit of friends who know me and might therefore be able to use this to make some judgment on whet...more
John Cage was much taken with silence. And noise, too. According to Gann, he was able to mix the two with no effort. His apartment once had a malfunctioning fire alarm "that beeped all night." No one slept but Cage.
I remained in bed, listened carefully to its pattern, and worked it into my thoughts and dreams; and I slept very well.
He told Gann that a baby crying in a concert hall --- especially during a concert of modern music --- was there to be enjoyed.
It reminds us of Joseph Goldstein's...more
I remained in bed, listened carefully to its pattern, and worked it into my thoughts and dreams; and I slept very well.
He told Gann that a baby crying in a concert hall --- especially during a concert of modern music --- was there to be enjoyed.
It reminds us of Joseph Goldstein's...more
Cage was a great multidisciplinary artist and it's a shame that he is best remembered as a musician. Its hard to imagine anyone appreciating his music without first being exposed to his writing. Incidentally, Cage taught at Black Mountain College, the college that I attend in daydreams after graduating from Hogwarts.
Well after reading this you will either love or hate John Cage! Personally I think the craziest composer of the 20th Century is indeed very loveable! The lectures and writings are incredibly clever; half of the book does not even mention music! Through intense thought Cage writes in Macro-Micro structures, in structures of chance procedure, and even in structures of such perfect timing that he is creating a piece of music (because a sound can be music) through his words.
The book gives an insigh...more
The book gives an insigh...more
Okay, if you're not a composer, musician, choreographer, dancer, architect, or other artist, this book will not likely be for you. In fact, you'll find it generally nonsensical and extremely annoying. Unless you really like mushrooms, which were Cage's lifelong obsession.
But, if you have an artistic bent, or a fascination with modern times and sounds and ideas generally, or an appreciation of Zen, you've just got to read this book some time. It will torment you, baffle you, disturb you, and ulti...more
But, if you have an artistic bent, or a fascination with modern times and sounds and ideas generally, or an appreciation of Zen, you've just got to read this book some time. It will torment you, baffle you, disturb you, and ulti...more
Yes, his voice still sounds fresh in the next century. This dear sweet gentle soul turns upside down notions of performance, composition and art. His major theme is the recognition of elements outside the conventional boundaries of Music. Thus his compositions for multiple radios, ambient sound, random occurrences in the performance space... very 1950s. His project to remove the voice of the composer is hard to wrap one's brain around, it could be seen as a cop-out, or as an overly 'oriental' ap...more
I was sad when I finished this book. I didn't want it to be over. I found myself enjoying everyday sounds that I previously found annoying. I noticed how those sounds - perhaps squeaking bus brakes and car engines - interacted with each other. John Cage's ideas are very interesting. Particularly his goal of having sounds be appreciated for what they were, not any emotional ideas that we typically associate with them. He used chance operations to compose (and write the lectures that make up this...more
Jan 26, 2008
Ben
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
musicians, nonmusicians, noisicians, philosophers, nonphilosophers
I am sometimes asked to give private music lessons, to aspiring saxophonists, arrangers, and composers. I haven't given private lessons for years, and don't really intend to return to them. I prefer to suggest they read several books; anything I could say, and more, is contained within them.
This is one of the books I always recommend. Why? Because, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I consider this, possibly, the single most important book about music written. (Or at least, in the 20th century....more
This is one of the books I always recommend. Why? Because, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I consider this, possibly, the single most important book about music written. (Or at least, in the 20th century....more
Although it is often highly irritating both in content and in style, this collection is really wonderful. It is tiresome, provocative, groundbreaking, infuriating, boring, soulful. In short, it bears a notable resemblance to Cage's music.
About halfway through _Silence_, I stopped fighting it. The Zen message began to seep into my pores. I share much of Cage's philosophy, but I suppose I simply wasn't used to moving beyond myself while reading. Then it got tiresome again at the end. Either the b...more
About halfway through _Silence_, I stopped fighting it. The Zen message began to seep into my pores. I share much of Cage's philosophy, but I suppose I simply wasn't used to moving beyond myself while reading. Then it got tiresome again at the end. Either the b...more
Some of these lectures were amazing. Others had interesting concepts, but the content fell flat. He wrote a few of them in the same way that he wrote his music: completely randomly. There is one in particular that would be really great if you could hear it live, but it's pretty useless to read it. The whole idea is that he's got four different texts, and he rolls a die for each one to determine when it will be spoken (i.e. read it for 30 seconds, then silence for 10 seconds, etc), but all four o...more
Reviewing these writings again after some years, I find new meanings in them. Mostly I am inspired by how hard Cage worked to find a form for his ideas that was also an experiential example of the idea itself. Many of these essays are performance pieces; it is impressive how he tried to make the form of the lecture/performance reflect the content.
A definite must-read for amy musician or music lover. Love him or hate him, John Cage was one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, and his insight into music is unsurpassed. This book is at times witty, revealing, frustrating, confusing, inspiring, and enlightening, and definitely bears repeated reading.
I got my degree from a school that believed the world's "best" music culminated in the Romantic period, and probably somewhere in Germany. This book sums up what we were all so desperately missing. A life changer, but only if you've arrived at these truths in your heart before reading it. You enjoy exploring the future, or you don't, in my feeling. Where music is headed cannot be taught, but must be done first! I believe with all my heart Cage is far beyond most living composers today in his und...more
Amazing! Some of the essays/lectures go on a bit, like the one that is supposed to be 4 simultaneous voices, and so one can only appreciate them in the way they are supposed to be performed. But still, absolutely incredible ideas and beautiful layout!
Silence is one of those amazing books that you go to find in a bookstore somewhere and can't, not because it's not there but because anyone who's ever come across the book has a different idea of how it should be shelved. Is it music? Yes. Is it theory? Yes. Is it poetry? Philosophy? Yes. All this is not to saddle the book or its author with any metaphysical label (Cage was unique in his passion for zen), it's just to say that I find Zen and all it's attending devotions pretty uninteresting and...more
It turns out that Cage's oracular meditations on music and other things are just the thing to read on the subway, with its multiple layers of background voices and sound. This is especially true of the piece "Where Are We Going? and What Are We Doing?," written as four parallel lectures to be performed simultaneously. Following just one thread of the piece, one comes close to the experience of following one's melody line in a complex musical score.
Does Cage repeat himself, recycling and repurpos...more
Does Cage repeat himself, recycling and repurpos...more
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Recommended by James Schall in Another Sort of Learning, Chapter 14, as one of Two Books by John Cage.
The beginning essays are wonderful, by far overshadowing the chance-composed lectures toward the end.
Although written during the period from 1939 to 1961 this book is still a modern work in many ways.
Huge fan of his ideas and love reading his words Don't have as much time for his music though...
wow, really, really good book. The edition looks pretty neat, too.
Cage is a great sage of music and life. Reading him is always an inspiration, and excellent advice on how to survive on the subway.
Changed. my. life. forever.
I read this several years ago when I was preparing a class on Kathy Acker, William Burroughs and John Cage, who all died within a year of each other. Silence demonstrates in words what Cage's compositions do in sound. He's a natural writer, perhaps because the silence of reading (and writing) resonates with him. He's the kind of writer I like, because his sensibility arises not just in what he says but how he says it. He's serious in the best way, with humor and detachment.
John Cage has some very interesting things to say about music, sound in general, but I think at times he takes it too far. Something is lost in his music that we can find in other contemporary composers such as Crumb, Rihm, and even Scelsi. However, the essay and doctrine on Experimental Music are something that every aspiring composer should read through.
a really hard read in parts, partially due to the subject matter, partially to the layout of the book, but that's what makes it so fascinating. cage was a truly original thinker, and this book really opens your mind to a reconsideration of what music is, or could be.
Read it for the discussion of his I-Ching explorations as it related to constructing experimental compositions. Spent three months in 1993 attempting to make my own experimental electronic music. Interesting results. And by "interesting," I mean really bad.
Jun 05, 2007
Cody
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who loves Jasper Johns and/or boiled hog peanuts
My very favorite book on music...if that's what this is actually about. Cage possessed a phenomenally witty, quirky, and insightful mind, especially when it came to art, music, and philosophy. I must confess, I love his ideas notably more than his acutal music.
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John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. He...more
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“The emotions - love, mirth, the heroic, wonder, tranquility, fear, anger, sorrow, disgust - are in the audience.”
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