A blog devoted to exploring the "all-sound music of the future" predicted by John Cage.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Changing my mind?
I feel like maybe I've been a little harsh at times in my judgement of Cage. What bothers me the most I think, is that so many people try to view him as some kind of creative genius when he seemed to me just to be curious about our preconceived notions of music. I still don't agree with many of his ideas, though I can understand his thought process. I feel he was raising questions rather than coming up with answers, and when viewed in that light, his ideas take on new meaning for me. Recently, his idea of changing one's mind has struck me. Before it had seemed a bit preachy, but now it's more of an openness rather than a forced action. In truth, I have changed my mind multiple times about Cage. Originally, I felt he had so many insightful and, at times, genius things to say, but then I began to realize some of the flaws and errors of these same ideas. Even still, I found that I liked his unique sense of music and silence, but still reverberated back to my endless frustration with his methods. So in changing my mind repeatedly, I have found that I've gotten nowhere, which is exactly where I'm meant to be, right?
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