John was born on the 5th august 1912, he was an artist, composer, philosopher and theorist. He was known for behind one of the best post war avant-gardes. Critics said Cage was one of the most influential music composers of the 20th century and had a big impact on modern dance as Cages partner was a very well known choreographer, Merce Cunningham.
Cages most well known piece of work is his 1952 composition 4’33” The piece is about the absence of preformed sound. The performance is 4 minutes and 33 seconds long. At first people believe that the composition is four minutes of silence as the musicians don’t move or play any instruments. But the piece of music is actually about the natural sounds in the environment around us, you sit for four minutes fully focusing on all the small sounds and actually enjoying the silence and almost finding the melodies within the silence.
Cage was greatly inspired by south Asian cultures. Through his philosophical studies during the 40s, Cage came to the idea of “aleatoric or chance-controlled music, which he started composing in 1951”. Aleatoric music is music which happens at that moment, it isn’t planned or scripted. It is music in the moment and sounds around that time. No two compositions are the same make the music a once in a lifetime experience.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cage
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