Carolina QuotesWhich is more musical, a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?
John Cage Connected to the Carolinas
Source
John Cage, "Communication", the third of the Composition as a Process lectures given in Darmstadt in 1958 and published in Silence. Many of Cage's works use sounds traditionally regarded as unmusical (radios not tuned to any particular station, for instance): he really did believe that the sound of a truck and the sounds made in a factory had just as much musical worth as the sounds made in a music school. There is also a suggestion expressed in the quote that in order to determine the artistic worth of something, it is necessary to examine the context in which it exists.
- year
- 1958
Cite this record
“Which is more musical, a truck passing by a factory or a tru…” John Cage. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-72CFB3B98F. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/72cfb3b98f
More from John Cage
The composer (organizer of sound) will be faced not only with the entire field of sound but also with the entire field of time. The 'frame' or fraction of a second, following established film technique, will probably be the basic unit in the measurement of time. No rhythm will be beyond the composer's reach.
...WHEREAS, IN THE PAST, THE POINT OF DISAGREEMENT HAS BEEN BETWEEN DISSONANCE AND CONSONANCE, IT WILL BE, IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE, BETWEEN NOISE AND SO-CALLED MUSICAL SOUNDS.
Value judgments are destructive to our proper business, which is curiosity and awareness.