Modern Composers : John Cage

Music can be used to describe how we feel on the inside when we ourselves can’t seem to find the words. Music has the power to help us discover ourselves or remember something we may have lost. I think Paulnack is right when he states that music can bring people together. Many people like the same genres and styles and feel something when they listen to it. Music can be found all over the world and can be related to everything around us. Music has been a part of our culture since the beginning of history, it’s constantly evolving giving each generation their on form of expression. Just by appreciating music as an art from we can make connections to those who are different from

Milton Babbitt and John Cage were both composers who played pivotal roles in the post-World War II Avant Garde music scene and in the pioneering of electronic music. Both composers found their roots and were greatly influenced by German-Jewish composer Arnold Schoenberg, however they both adopted different viewpoints on the relationship between a composer and their audience . Babbitt believed that a composer or creator did not have an obligation to please his or her audience, and that his pieces were intended mostly for professionals capable of understanding the context and intention of his music. Cage on the other hand granted his audience more power and influence, believing that music was a platform on which audiences could utilize their creativity to adopt new ways of perceiving and being aware of the world around them. These stances, as well as the different techniques and methodologies of the composers pitted them on somewhat of a spectrum, with Babbitt and his systematic, modernist ideas that were largely based in the music schools of academic institutions on one side and Cage, with his uncontrollable, radical combinations of Avant Garde sounds on the other side. These ideas on audience construction and relations were also visible in rock music of the 1960’s, particularly in compositions of artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan.

As Alex Ross describes, “Cage love[s] noise” (366). This should be why he decided to alter his piano in a “conceptually violent” and unusual way for Sonatas and Interludes. Though, Cage’s aim was not pure violence, as we are pleased by the “soft sounds” instead of being “battered by some unholy racket” (Ross, 366). I

Attention Getter: What is music? Many people say that it’s a harmonious beautiful sound that is pleasing to the ear. According to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a nineteenth century poet and educator, “Music is the universal language of mankind.” Not only is music a type of communication but it’s also type art which many people fail to remember.

There are many great composers throughout the centuries. Each composer has a story to tell that is very interesting, when you dig deep for the information. Every composer has their own way of making, composing and producing music. Irving Berlin is no exception. Berlin is an extraordinary composer, and when examining his story amazing facts are found. Berlin is not just a musician and composer, he is a man of many hats. Berlin’s life is extremely compelling.

The first part of this response is to try and identify why John Cage received so much criticism from lovers of traditional music and post war modernists. Cage adopts chance techniques in his compositions and this makes things go awry for him in regard to being referred to as a composer, most critics consider him more of a music philosopher than a composer. Especially after the 19-hour performance of vexations which sadly did not amuse many. The randomness of his compositions makes it hard for him to establish his authority as a composer.

The exploration of the timbral possibilities of the piano as a percussive instrument would be developed later in the 20th century by composers such as John Cage, for example, in his works for prepared piano in the 1940s.

Music is defined differently for each individual. It is the universal language that speaks to us all, but in different ways. It is one of the few genres that can instantly transport a person back to the past. Music is also an art of sound which expresses ideas, thoughts, and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, and harmony. It is the design of giving structural form and rhythmic pattern to combinations of sounds produce instrumentally and vocally. To me, music brings a sense of calmness, happiness, and peacefulness. Music is the absolute bread of life because it feeds my soul.

Music originates from all over the world since the beginning of time. Complex or simple, fast or slow, loud or soft. It’s what you feel. It could be your method of escape or keeping you living. Music is love. Music is passion. Music is unity. Music is emotion. Music is belief. Music is beauty. Music is life. Music is perfection. Music is imperfection. Music is peace. “Through music we can live forever.”

Music is known to everyone all around the world. This doesn't mean that rave music should be playing at a funeral, or that sad, slow love music should be playing when you are working out. In my opinion, different types of music should be needed for other types of events because people will feel more comfortable when they have a specific music playing, while they are at a discrete place.

The composer that I have chosen is Yanni Chryssomallis. I have chosen Yanni because he was very famous for being a Pianist, Keyboardist, and Music Composer. He was born November 14, 1954 in Kalamata Greece to a mother named Felitsa Chryssomallis and a father named Sotiri Chryssomallis. Yanni is still alive today he currently is 63 years old. He dated an actress named Linda Evans. Their relationship lasted from 1989 to 1998 he also had a daughter with her named Krystal Ann, but no one knew about her till she was 32 years old. As a child he developed his own way of writing music and continues to use his own signature 'musical shorthand' to compose pieces even today. He began to play piano when he was six and his parents allowed him to progress at his own speed he also later on in life became a self-taught artist. In November of 1972 he moved to the United States to attend the University of Minnesota and majored in psychology. He also played in a rock band during this time and realized that music was his true calling.

Baroque music tends to be complex, but with a very organized system of forms and harmonies that is the basis for almost all music from what is called the “Common Era,” the period between 1700-1900. The Common Era developed throughout the nineteenth century, but after 1900 music entered an age of experimentation; music perhaps became a postmodern art genre very early on. Baroque music all sounds similar, although the educated listener can tell Bach from Handel without difficulty. In the realm of contemporary music, however, entirely atonal music from Schoenberg and Webern can easily exist alongside French Impressionism and Copland’s American neo-Romanticism. Today’s composers are similar only in that their styles, and entire musical languages, are radically different.

The definition of music is very different to many people. Some say that music is the arrangement of sound and silence. Others like myself say music is that and much more. Music is an aural form of art that is used to express emotion and touch the hearts of the listener through the use of phrasing, dynamics, style and tone color. Music is a very universal art form.

The literal meaning of the word 'music' according to any dictionary is: 'art of combining vocal or instrumental sounds in a harmonious or expressive way.' But music has a meaning which is far broader than this. Music is life. Music means Self-expansion and oneness. It is an art by itself. Art, in any of its forms, is generated by a person, or a group of talented yet usually ordinary people, that express, willingly or not, an opinion regarding present times. It is not a want; it is a need. If you try to imagine yourself without it, you are bound to feel incomplete. For many of us, it has become a necessity of our lives. Music has no boundaries. Music is the

In the course of the development of music, many great composers have contributed their brilliance towards the revolution of music. To be a great composer does not necessarily mean that they have reached a vast amount of fame. However, it means that their compositions have ingenuity and value. The melodies they have cleverly created have reached a point of worthiness in the world of music. For it is the sweet harmonies a composer creates that defines who he is. One of these gifted composers was Frederic Chopin, born on February 22, 1810 in Zelazowa Wola, Poland. Young Chopin was already composing by the age of eight and as his musical career developed he became known as a master of piano composition. Although he was often misunderstood