Silence

lectures and writings by John Cage

276 pages

English language

Published Jan. 24, 1973 by Wesleyan University.

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4 stars (8 reviews)

2 editions

Machines for generating text and sound

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I love that this book is just a bunch of machines for generating text, much like Cage's music. I'm thinking of staging a reading of some of these lectures with students (which will involve reading passages of text to meet certain time requirements and sometimes having multiple speakers talking over one another).

Two favorites:

"All I know about method is that when I am not working I sometimes think I know something, but when I am working, it is quite clear that I know nothing." (126)

"Any sounds of any qualities and pitches (known or unknown, definite or indefi- nite), any contexts of these, simple or multiple, are natural and conceivable within a rhythmic structure which equally embraces silence. Such a claim is remarkably like the claims to be found in patent specifications for and articles about tech- nological musical means ( see early issues of Modern Music and the …

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Subjects

  • Music.