What Is Music? Introduction to Listening & John Cage
Chapter 1 – Introduction: Defining “Music”
Opening, central question: “What is music?”
Instructor labels it possibly “unanswerable.”
Recognizes vast diversity:
Styles vary drastically by culture, era, instrumentation, intention.
Sound‐worlds of different regions sound “very different.”
Difficulty of definition highlighted:
Some thinkers feel conventional definitions are too narrow and need expansion.
Raises provocative examples:
Everyday environmental sounds.
Birdsong.
Implicit question: Who (or what process) decides where the boundary lies?
Planned class activity:
Instructor will play three short audio excerpts and asks students to reflect:
“Do you consider this music?”
“Why or why not?”
Purpose: engage students in subjective analysis; underscores that musical judgment is partly listener‐constructed.
Chapters 2–6 – Listening Excerpts & Audience Reactions
Structure in the video: five successive micro-chapters containing music, applause, and short spoken phrases.
Chapter 2: Labeled “Now Better”
Plays an unidentified musical fragment.
Chapter 3: “Let’s Call You”
Contains both music and audience applause.
Chapter 4: “So I Much”
Brief spoken phrase: “So, I much letter is time.”
Followed by music and a phrase “Find a WI.”
Chapter 5: “[applause] Sing The”
Applause → direction “Sing the sing.”
More music.
Chapter 6: “[applause] No Come”
Applause, phrase “No, come,” more applause.
Pedagogical function:
Excerpts are intentionally ambiguous in genre and context.
Designed to test listener’s internal definition of music versus mere sound.
Applause, spoken interjections, and music are intermixed, further blurring boundaries.
Ethical / philosophical implication:
Encourages inclusive listening—validating non-traditional sonic events as potential music.
Challenges hierarchical views that place Western art music at the top.
Chapter 7 – John Cage and 4'33'': Listening As Creation
Historical reference: American avant-garde composer John Cage (1912-1992).
1952 composition 4'33'' (spoken “four minutes, thirty-three seconds”):
Instrumentation: Any instrument or ensemble; score specifies no intentional notes.
Performance protocol:
Performers enter, prepare to play.
Remain silent for exactly 4\,\text{minutes} \, 33\,\text{seconds}.
Compositional premise:
Ambient sounds inside and outside the hall—coughs, chair creaks, rustling paper, hallway footsteps—constitute the musical material.
Silence of performers frames everyday sound, turning the act of listening into the creative act.
Significance & controversy:
At premiere, some audiences felt cheated; others saw radical liberation of music.
Redefined authorship: composer provides context, audience provides content.
Extends earlier 20th-century experimental ideas (e.g., Dada, Futurism, Musique Concrète).
Broader philosophical takeaway:
“If you decide that something is music, then it is.”
Validates subjective agency of the listener; collapses distinction between sound and music.
Chapter 8 – Course Outlook & Applicability
Instructor hints that upcoming classes will feature “more traditional examples” of music (likely tonal, notated, historically canonical works).
Nonetheless, all analytical tools and principles taught will be transferable:
Students should apply rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, form, and cultural context frameworks to any sound environment they personally designate as music.
Real-world relevance: equips students to engage with podcasts, film sound design, urban soundscapes, and experimental art with equal rigor.
Integrated Study Points & Connections
Key dichotomy: Objective properties vs. Subjective designation of music.
Cage’s 4'33'' functions as proof-by-counterexample: If a silent score can be music, then definition must shift away from mere sonic characteristics.
Parallel to other disciplines:
Visual art (Duchamp’s “Fountain” ready-made) & conceptual art emphasize contextually framed perception.
Practical implication for exam essays:
When asked “Define music” or “Discuss Cage,” reference:
Cultural relativism in sound perception.
Primacy of listening act.
Democratization of musical authorship.
Chapter 1 – Introduction: Defining “Music”
Opening, central question: “What is music?” - Instructor labels it possibly “unanswerable,” emphasizing the inherent complexity and cultural variability of the concept.
Recognizes vast diversity:
Styles vary drastically by culture, era, instrumentation, and artistic intention, making a universal definition challenging.
Sound-worlds of different regions, such as classical Indian ragas versus Western symphonies or African polyrhythmic drumming, sound “very different” and operate on distinct aesthetic principles.
Difficulty of definition highlighted:
Some thinkers feel conventional definitions, often rooted in Western tonal systems, are too narrow and need expansion to include global sonic practices and experimental forms.
Raises provocative examples:
Everyday environmental sounds like traffic, rain, or a refrigerator's hum, which typically aren't considered music but possess rhythmic or timbral qualities.
Birdsong, which is naturally structured and communicates, yet falls outside human musical intention.
Implicit question: Who (or what process—cultural, historical, individual) decides where the boundary lies between organized sound that is music and sound that is not?
Planned class activity: - Instructor will play three short audio excerpts representing diverse or ambiguous sonic experiences and asks students to reflect:
“Do you consider this music?”
“Why or why not?” - Prompting critical self-reflection on their personal and culturally influenced definitions.
Purpose: to engage students in subjective analysis from the outset; underscores that musical judgment is partly listener-constructed and not solely inherent in the sound itself.
Chapters 2–6 – Listening Excerpts & Audience Reactions
Structure in the video: five successive micro-chapters containing music, applause, and short spoken phrases, designed to disorient and provoke thought.
Chapter 2: Labeled “Now Better”
Plays an unidentified musical fragment, possibly out of context, to challenge immediate categorization.
Chapter 3: “Let’s Call You”
Contains both music and audience applause, blurring the lines between performance, reception, and the sounds of the performance itself.
Chapter 4: “So I Much”
Brief spoken phrase: “So, I much letter is time.” - This non-sequitur suggests a fragmentation of narrative, similar to how musique concrète uses decontextualized speech.
Followed by music and a phrase “Find a WI.” - Further adding to the surreal or abstract nature of the listening experience.
Chapter 5: “[applause] Sing The”
Applause → direction “Sing the sing.” - Direct instruction to a performer or element, mixing audience reaction with a directive.
More music, possibly a response to the directive or another isolated fragment.
Chapter 6: “[applause] No Come”
Applause, phrase “No, come,” more applause. - Suggests a continuous interaction between sound events, human presence (applause), and fragmented semantic content.
Pedagogical function: - Excerpts are intentionally ambiguous in genre and context, forcing listeners to confront their predispositions and biases about what music should sound like.
Designed to test listener’s internal definition of music versus mere sound, highlighting that the distinction is often a cognitive rather than purely acoustic one.
Applause, spoken interjections, and music are intermixed, further blurring boundaries and questioning the traditional separation of performed content and performance environment sounds.
Ethical / philosophical implication: - Encourages inclusive listening—validating non-traditional sonic events and everyday sounds as potential music, fostering a broader appreciation for sound art and experimental forms.
Challenges hierarchical views that place Western art music at the top, promoting a more culturally relative understanding of musical value and definition.
Chapter 7 – John Cage and 4'33'': Listening As Creation
Historical reference: American avant-garde composer John Cage (1912-1992), known for his embrace of indeterminacy, chance operations, and Zen Buddhist philosophies in his work.
1952 composition 4'33'' (spoken “four minutes, thirty-three seconds”):
Instrumentation: Any instrument or ensemble; the score specifies no intentional notes or composed sound, instructing performers to simply be present and silent (indicated by the Italian term “Tacet”).
Performance protocol:
Performers enter, prepare to play, perhaps opening piano lids or raising instruments.
Remain silent for exactly 4\, \text{minutes}\, 33\, \text{seconds}, often marked by section breaks or movements through a clock.
The piece is typically divided into three movements, with the duration of each movement left to the performer, as long as the total is 4'33''. This structure further formalizes the concept of 'silence'.
Compositional premise:
Ambient sounds inside and outside the hall—coughs, chair creaks, rustling paper, hallway footsteps, the hum of the air conditioning—constitute the musical material.
The silence of the performers frames these everyday sounds, turning the act of listening into the central creative act, making the audience members co-creators of the experience.
Significance & controversy: - At premiere, some audiences felt cheated by the apparent lack of composed sound; others saw it as a radical liberation of music from traditional constraints, inviting a deeper engagement with the sonic environment.
Redefined authorship: the composer provides the context (the frame of silence), and the audience provides the content (their perception of ambient sounds within that frame).
Extends earlier 20th-century experimental ideas such as Dada (anti-art, absurdity), Futurism (celebration of machine sounds, noise), and Musique Concrète (use of found sounds, magnetic tape manipulation), pushing them even further into the realm of conceptual art.
Broader philosophical takeaway: - “If you decide that something is music, then it is.” - This statement emphasizes the ultimate subjectivity and listener's agency in defining music, shifting focus from objective sonic properties to individual perception and interpretation.
Validates subjective agency of the listener; effectively collapses the traditional distinction between organized sound and designated music.
Chapter 8 – Course Outlook & Applicability
Instructor hints that upcoming classes will feature “more traditional examples” of music (likely tonal, notated, historically canonical works from various genres like Western Classical, Jazz, Folk, and Popular music) to provide foundational knowledge.
Nonetheless, all analytical tools and principles taught will be transferable across diverse musical forms:
Students should apply frameworks for rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, form, and cultural context to any sound environment they personally designate as music, whether it's a symphony or street noise.
Real-world relevance: equips students to engage with diverse sound phenomena like podcasts (analyzing their sonic structure and emotional impact), film sound design (understanding how sound builds tension or conveys narrative), urban soundscapes (perceiving the composition of city noise), and experimental art (approaching non-traditional sonic creations) with equal rigor and analytical depth.
Integrated Study Points & Connections
Key dichotomy: The tension between Objective properties (inherent acoustic characteristics of sound) vs. Subjective designation (the individual or cultural act of labeling something as music).
Cage’s 4'33'' functions as proof-by-counterexample: If a silent score can be accepted as music, then the definition must fundamentally shift away from mere sonic characteristics and towards the act of listening, intention, and context.
Parallel to other disciplines: - Visual art (e.g., Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain” ready-made, a urinal presented as art) and conceptual art movements of the 20th century emphasize contextually framed perception (the idea that an object becomes art when placed in an art context and viewed with artistic intent) over inherent aesthetic qualities.
Practical implication for exam essays: - When asked “Define music” or “Discuss Cage,” reference:
Cultural relativism in sound perception: How different cultures define and experience music.
Primacy of the listening act: The active role of the listener in making meaning from sound.
Democratization of musical authorship: How Cage’s work decentralizes the composer's role, sharing creative responsibility with the environment and the audience.