John Cage: '4'33' - Music as a Moment of Spatial Attentiveness

After watching and listening to John Cage’s ‘4’33,’I was left with a deep impression and visceral experience, that caused me to rethink my perception of music and sound. To me, Cage’s sonic piece sounded nothing like genuine silence, even though it may first arouse this connotation. Rather, the sonic landscape presented redirected my attention to the natural activity of sound within the spatial and temporal limitations of ‘4’33,’ like the audience’s coughs, which would usually be considered background noise. For me, this is reminiscent of a transcendentalist understanding of sound, where music is considered natural to all beings. Here, it is highlighted with the sound of self (or in this case: selves) as an instrument. Hence, what I found to be precisely interesting is the attempt to redirect the audience’s attention to sounds of life and nature, in Thoreauvian thought. Instead of drowning out already existing sounds with music, the listener’s concert experience in ‘4’33’ is remapped as a moment of spatial attentiveness. As life in Western culture in the 21^st century has become entrenched with a visual and acoustic sensory overload, it can be challenging to find a way of intentional reengagement with the nature of sound. Nonetheless, even a non-present viewer can tell, that the concert hall is filled with anticipatory tension and acoustic resonance of the audience and orchestra present in their embodied experience.

    Finally, in my perception, I would argue, that the nature of sound presented does not consist of an ontological essence but is conceived through the frame of intentionality and attentiveness from those present. In my opinion, Cage has succeeded in redirecting attention to everyday life soundscapes, hence, extending the boundaries of music, and for me has had the effect to rethink my definitions of sound and silence. I wonder, what would happen, if one was to transfer this attentiveness more consistently to everyday life and what paradigms shifts could follow from answering questions like:

 what gets seen and heard?

and whom and what do we share our attention with?