John Cage

John Cage is an American composer who was known for his experimental music. Cage often used chance to determine the selection, order, and duration of the notice. In one piece, Cage drew lines of different length across a page; some going horizontally and some going vertically. It was the musician's job to interpret the pitch, clef, and length on the line based on what he perceived the line to instruct. Cage's work challenges the definition of music as determined by modern society.

His most famous, and perhaps most controversial, work in 4'33. This piece is four minutes and thirty three seconds of complete silence in three movements. Cage claims that the musical experience is created through the listener's perception of the sounds in the environment they are in during the performance. Traditionally, composition is defined as the arrangement of sound in relationship to the absence of sound. Cage claims that in 4'33, "I have nothing to say, and this is me saying it."

Here is a video of 4'33 being performed by a full orchestra!