Listening, By John Cage

Writer and composer, Aaron Copland, in his book, “How We Listen,” divides listening into three planes: the sensuous, the expressive and the sheerly musical. Copland argues throughout the work that “[listeners] can deepen [their] understanding of music only by being a more conscious and aware listener.” (Copland, 15) Copland’s strategy of breaking the text up with the three planes of listening helps the reader understand his message in a more complete way.

Utilizing the groundwork proposed by this essay, we can expand to research other texts in which music seems to function as a form of communication. In doing so, we can study the similarities and differences between the mechanism as a way to arrive at a larger claim about the role of nonverbal communication amongst humans. With this new claim, we can begin to understand to recognize other forms of communication that may not appear as readily accessible and challenging, in order to ensure that we do not neglect the music of emotion another person may be performing in their own

To understand why music is a product of human intention and perception, we start by defining or understanding the nature of music. Music is defined as the sounds or combination of vocals and instruments in a way that it produces a form of beauty, expression, or harmony of emotions. Arguably, people compose or make music through many ways (Resnicow, Joel E., 20-29). While some people might compose music without incorporating instruments, others use instruments to produce beats that match with their sounds. However, to argue that the

For as long as mankind has walked on this earth, music has been an important part of our culture and lifestyles. Each walk of life beats to a different drum. Different cultures use music for many aspects of their lives; for religious purposes, for celebrations, for comfort, for sorrow, for relaxation, for sports, for dances, for energy, for learning, for sleeping, and for sexual experiences. Everyone uses music for something. Music connects with people and reaches them in ways that words simply cannot. Music is a representation of what feelings sound like. It expresses emotion and brings that characteristic out from within us; it tells us a story. Every generation has its’ own sound and different music styles have emerged and become

When the word music is heard, generally the first thing that comes to mind is how one would be able to relate to the piece. John Cage, a contemporary composer, expanded the normality of music by sounds with no meaning or emotional connection and silence. The propinquity between mind and music is difficult to sever, and to have music without an emotional connection is unfathomable.

The enriching experience of listening to live music has been a pleasurable pastime for many individuals since the creation of music itself. The ability for musicians to provoke profound emotions in others is a form of social communication that is unmatched by any other type of human connection which allowed music to retain its popularity throughout history. Without an artistic mode of expression for humans to communicate what can’t be directly spoken, life becomes dull and devoid of emotion where the only clear method left of expression is through verbal and linguistic communication. Music, in general, acts as a unifying intermediate where both the historical tales of the era coincide with the rhythmic stylings of the composers to evoke compelling

Active listening is listening with a purpose. It is more than just hearing which the act of perceiving sound is. When you hear a sound or noise, you are receiving aural stimuli. Listening goes beyond just registering that there is a sound in the environment. It involves receiving and interpreting the aural stimuli, and creating meaning from the sound.

This presentation of "Losing Listening," is an important critical observation.When I think of making meaning from sound just as important for most people who are auditory learning from birth, with an exception of course to someone with a hearing disability. The way our sound patterns are already tuned into the influence of our culture and ethnicity, tells me that sound is universal. But, it can be timely as well. When children are learning. The first thing their learning is how to distinguish sound, even the sound of their own noises. Eventually, children learn by audible cues and can distinguish inflections in tenses of their parent voice audibles.

The Avant-garde composer, John Cage, created a space for silence as an important element in understanding the meaning of music and sound. According to Cage, when he is listening to ‘music’ it is as though someone is talking about their feelings or their ideas. When sound is presented in a raw, natural form for example, in the case of traffic, it is simply sound that is acting. This activity of sound is what caught Cage’s interest because of its transient ability to be loud or soft, long or short, high or low etc., leaving him satisfied, without having the need for sound to ‘talk’ to him. In this paper, I will be writing about the role of silence in John Cage’s compositions and the evolution of his changing perception of silence as seen in those compositions.

John Cage’s outlook on silence is fascinating. He believes that there never is true silence. There is always a sound, even if it is your own blood rushing or your heart beating. The world is full of sounds. In Cage’s piece, 4’33”, he instructs the performers to perform the three movements of the piece without their instruments. Cage created this piece to show the individuals in the audience that there is not true thing as silence. Although many may believe that the action of the players maybe sitting on stage, not playing their instruments is silence. The music, in Cage’s opinion becomes the sounds of the chair squeaking, the programs rustling, the coughing and sneezing. There is never true silence.

Chion, Michael. “Three Modes of Listening.” The Sound Studies Reader. Ed. Jonathan Sterne. London: Routledge, 2012. 48-53. Print.

What is active listening, it the process of information, which uses all of our senses to convey a message through perceiving of sound? Our, hearing, smell, taste and touch are part of our senses that we sometimes use without knowing we are doing it. Moreover, listening correctly, can be a crucial part of encoding and decoding the message, for clarification and understanding what the message is conveying. While deciphering messages, you get a sense of understanding what the message is trying to express. Next, is trying to remember or recall what the message is so that you can retain it. Also, evaluating what you hear and decoded or deciphered it is essential to understanding what the message is. When we actively listen, there is some paraphrasing during this process, where you have to restate the information given by the speaker into your own words. Lastly, responding to the message with an answer, it could be for learning purposes, personal, enjoyment or even employment, it is important to listen to ensure understanding actively. As we respond, there is an answer and feedback given (DeVito 2016) as a response.

Thesis: Music is a unique form of sound powerful enough to manipulate mood, feelings, and cognition.

During the twentieth century, one composer in particular, John Cage, challenged the idea of music, sound, and art. Because of a distinct style and the utilization of innovative mechanisms, Cage proved to be one of the world’s most original composers. He took music into a new direction creating sounds and works that have never been performed before. Through his philosophy of silence and chance operations, John Cage distinguished the difference between sound and music; sounds possess the ability to stand independently while the creation of music depends on sounds and their particular arrangement.

Music is one of the greatest human creations (DeNora, 2000). It plays an integral role in human society worldwide irrelevant of race, gender, age, wealth or well-being (Kemper & Danhauer, 2005). Indeed according to Batt-Rawden (2010), playing different music in diverse situations can introduce listeners to the desired and relevant atmosphere. In most circumstances, music is played to entertain people, but it can also form part of an accompaniment in sad situations. Music is often the fulcrum that influences the listener by creating a unique ambience and atmosphere (Bernatzky, Presh, Anderson, & Panksepp, 2011). Chamorro-Premuzic and Furnham, (2007) adds that music can be a medium to enhance communication,