 When discussing 4'33" by John Cage, people often ask "is

this really music?" In this Writing Journal, you should explain

whether you think this piece is actually music or not. Why do you
think so? Explain your answer with details and examples. Were
you familiar with this piece before today? Do you like it? Why or
why not?

This is not the first time I watch the Video of 4’33’’. When I studied in college, my
private teacher has guided us to analyze so many John Cage’s pieces. As a result, we
have a deeper understanding about what is his central idea of music, and what
message he wants to deliver to the auditions.
If you ask me whether I like this piece or not, the answer is no. The performance is
boring and confusing. It is not like other piece contains beautiful melody and
harmony. However, I am totally appreciated the concept in this piece and the way the
composer take.
Rather than call John Cage as a musician, I prefer to call him “performance artist,”
which means the concept in his works is more important than the music itself. Just
like other performance artists, John Cage uses the surprising and ridiculous way to
catch people’s attention and convince people the new ideas he wants to let them
know.
In 4’33’’, the concept that John Cage wants to deliver, is “every sound could be music,
even though the sound is noise.” In such confusing performance, audiences might
make some noise because they feel boring. However, these noises just match John
Cage’s except.
This piece totally break the definition of music that we have known. When music is
not just “rhythm, melody and harmony,” we could put more surprising sound in the
music. For example, the sound of city, which contains the siren of ambulance,
people’s shouting and so on. As a result, music become closer to real life and attract
normal people, who have no special training in music, to create and understand.
John Cage use the extreme way to let people know his concept. As a composition-
major student, I think this piece brings the contemporary music a new point of view
and give later composer more element to choose to add into their piece. The
responsibility of composers or even artists is let the people know the things they
never think about. And I think John Cage and his pieces have perfectly reach this
goal.