Matthew's Journal

Silence is clearly part of music, in the same way that blank space is part of poetry, the background is part of art and space is part of architecture. The moderns (in all forms of art) were very interested in pushing the boundaries as far as they could go: basically and asking 'and can you do this and it still be art?' In visual art, can you let go of representation, colours, and so on; in music, can you let go of key, melody, and so on. In poetry how far can you go beyond grammar, beyond the normal rules of typography; in drama can you get rid of things like plot, character, and the separation of actor and audience?

(And technically of course it's very important that it's not dead silence: it's the sound of a concert hall with the orchestra seated but not playing. It's something which occurs before and after every other piece of music, and sometimes in the middle too. In a way, every single other piece of music is just that with other sounds put on top.)

So actually the whole point of it is to make you question what music is, by presenting you with something where something that is an essential part of music -- the intro and outro to every piece of music ever -- becomes the whole thing, and all the other elements are stripped away.

Is it music? Well, that's the question Cage is asking, and the correct response is not to come down firmly on one side or the other, to say 'of course it's music!' or 'of course it isn't!', but to use the opportunity to open your eyes and think more deeply about what music is.

Can someone be said to have composed it? Well, yes. Of course it seems an obvious idea in retrospect; it seems like it would have taken no effort. But Cage was an accomplished composer, so it obviously wasn't that he was incapable of composing something with notes; but the mark of genius is to do something that no one has ever thought of, but that everyone thinks was utterly obvious. (If this seems a lot like why it's the mark of genius to be unappreciated, well, the reader may draw their conclusions).

I, too, am sad that it's usually seen as a joke. But then I keep having to deal with people who claim that free verse isn't even poetry, so my opinion of humanity can't really sink much lower.

S.

S is quite right in what he says. I've just bought it and listened to it, and the applause at the end was quite emotional. £0.49 well spent, I think.

I almost never buy singles, but this year I did try to help the Saw Doctors' special new a capella cut of Red Cortina to number one. MOney goes to St Vincent de Paul for every one sold. It's the first, and hopefully last, time I pay money for music without a physical recording.

S.