John milton cage jr biography

(b.. 5 September in Los Angeles, California; d. 12 August in New York City), prolific avant-garde composer, teacher, visual artist, and writer of critical pieces and poetry, diaries, and fiction.

Cage was the son of John Milton Cage, Sr., an amateur scientist and inventor, and Lucretia Harvey, a homemaker and occasional newspaper columnist. He first studied piano as a child, taking lessons initially with his aunt. Following two years at Pomona College, in Claremont, California. Cage went to Europe, traveling between and , studying piano, architecture, and painting with various people. On his return home, he gave occasional lectures on the modern arts to local women’s groups. In he studied briefly with the pianist Richard Buhlig, who recommended that he send some of his compositions to the composer Henry Cowell. In Cage traveled to New York City to work as Cowell’s assistant at the New School and also took lessons from the composer Adolph Weiss (a student of the composer Arnold Schoenberg). A year later, Cage returned to California to study with Schoenberg, who was dismissive of Cage’s music. This opposition only made Cage more determined to compose. On 7 June , he married Xenia Andreyevna Kashevaroff, who became a partner in his artistic endeavors.

During the mids Cage worked as a dance accompanist, first in Los Angeles, then at Mills College in Oakland, California (summer ), and finally at the Cornish School in Seattle (), where he met the dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham. The two would become lifelong collaborators and partners. That same year, Cage “invented” the prepared piano by placing small screws, nuts, pieces of rubber, and other items into the piano’s mechanism in order to change it from primarily a melodic to a percussive instrument; the side benefit of this invention was that the player could never be sure what sound would occur when he hit each key. Cage composed almost exclusively for the instrument over the n

John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, – August 12, ) was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives.

Cage is perhaps best known for his composition 4′33″, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. The content of the composition is meant to be perceived as the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed, rather than merely as four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence, and the piece became one of the most controversial compositions of the twentieth century. Another famous creation of Cage's is the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by placing various objects in the strings), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces, the best known of which is Sonatas and Interludes (–48).

His teachers included Henry Cowell () and Arnold Schoenberg (–35), both known for their radical innovations in music and coincidentally their shared love of mushrooms, but Cage's major influences lay in various Eastern cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late s, Cage came to the idea of chance-controlled music, which he started composing in The I Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text on changing events, became Cage's standard composition tool for the rest of his life. In a lecture, Experimental Music, he described music as "a purposeless play" which is "an affirmation of life – not an attempt to bring

American avant-garde composer (–)

This article is about the composer. For other people with the same name, see John Cage (disambiguation).

John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, – August 12, ) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives.

Cage's teachers included Henry Cowell () and Arnold Schoenberg (–35), both known for their radical innovations in music, but Cage's major influences lay in various East and South Asian cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late s, Cage came to the idea of aleatoric or chance-controlled music, which he started composing in The I Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text and decision-making tool, became Cage's standard composition tool for the rest of his life. In a lecture, "Experimental Music", he described music as "a purposeless play" which is "an affirmation of life – not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we're living".

Cage's best known work is the composition 4′33″, a piece performed in the absence of deliberate sound; musicians who perform the work do nothing but be present for the duration specified by the title. The content of

John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, – August 12, ) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives.

Cage's teachers included Henry Cowell () and Arnold Schoenberg (–35), both known for their radical innovations in music, but Cage's major influences lay in various East and South Asian cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late s, Cage came to the idea of aleatoric or chance-controlled music, which he started composing in The I Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text and decision-making tool, became Cage's standard composition tool for the rest of his life. In a lecture, "Experimental Music", he described music as "a purposeless play" which is "an affirmation of life – not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we're living".

Cage's best known work is the composition 4′33″, a piece performed in the absence of deliberate sound; musicians who perform the work do nothing but be present for the duration specified by the title. The content of the composition is intended to be the sounds of the environment heard by the audience during performance. The work's challenge to assumed definitions about musicianship and musical experience made it a popular and controversial topic both in musicology and the broader aesthetics of art and performance. Cage was also a pioneer of the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by objects placed between or on its strings or hammers), for which he wrote nume