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• John Cage is considered by many critics to be one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He pioneered the use of chance and silence in composition, electronic music and physically augmenting instruments for their use in performance. One of Cage's most famous compositions 4'33" is performed by a pianist who takes the stage and doesn't play a single note. Instead, the audience focuses on the sound of their environment for the full 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Cage was also famous for "preparing" pianos by by weighting their strings to produce unusual sounds.

  Cage played a role in the evolution of modern dance through his lifelong collaboration with avant-garde choreographer Merce Cunningham. Using elements of chance, Cage would create scores for Cunningham's dances, but the dancers nor Cunningham would hear the score until the night of the performance. The reverse was true as well; Cage wouldn't see the dance for which he was composing until the music and the movement met on stage.

  Cage's preoccupation with incorporating chance into his work came from his study of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism. The text of the I Ching was an important composition tool for Cage.

  In addition to composing, Cage was a prolific writer and visual artist.

• Fast Facts

  1. Born: September 5, 1912
  2. Died: August 12, 1992
  3. Teachers included Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg
  4. Went to the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, Washington
  5. Associated with Black Mountain College where he served as a faculty member along with Merce Cunningham
  6. Amateur mycologist and mushroom collector
  7. Co-founded the New York Mycological Society

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Philip Glass | Igor Stravinsky | Frank Zappa | Yoko Ono | Terry Riley | La Monte Young | Steve Reich | Olivier Messiaen | Claude Debussy | Gustav Mahler | Aaron Copland

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