No Such Thing as Silence: John Cage's 4'33"

Icons of America

by Kyle Gann

A vibrant portrait of the importance, influence, and impact of John Cage’s iconic piece 4'33" by a leading modern music critic

First performed at the midpoint of the twentieth century, John Cage’s 4'33", a composition conceived of without a single musical note,is among the most celebrated and ballyhooed cultural gestures in the history of modern music. A meditation on the act of listening and the nature of performance, Cage’s controversial piece became the iconic statement of the meaning of silence in art and is a landmark work of American music.

In this book, Kyle Gann, one of the nation’s leading music critics, explains 4'33" as a unique moment in American culture and musical composition. Finding resemblances and resonances of 4'33" in artworks as wide-ranging as the paintings of the Hudson River School and the music of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, he provides much-needed cultural context for this fundamentally challenging and often misunderstood piece. Gann also explores Cage’s craft, describing in illuminating detail the musical, philosophical, and even environmental influences that informed this groundbreaking piece of music. Having performed 4'33" himself and as a composer in his own right, Gann offers the reader both an expert’s analysis and a highly personal interpretation of Cage’s most divisive work.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Art, Philosophy

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Kyle Gann is Associate Professor of Music at Bard College, a composer, and former new-music critic for the Village Voice. He lives in Germantown, NY.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This, to me, is the epitome of solid, necessary music journalism. None of the info presented here is particularly inaccessible or otherwise unknown, but Gann sifts through the primary sources to present us with a focused look at one specific moment in Cage's musical development, ostensibly his most important, and certainly his most infamous and misunderstood. Although the sections on the lead-up to 4'33" were interesting, my favorite was the chapter of thumbnails about Cage's possible influences in the lead-up to 4'33". You probably know a bit about Daisetz Suzuki, Morton Feldman, and other famous friends/colleagues of Cage's, but unless you're Richard Kostelanetz (or Kyle Gann), you probably don't know everybody here, and finding all these silver threads amidst the gold really deepened my appreciation of what a dangerous leap 4'33" was for Cage. Gann also scrapes away some of the barnacles on Cage's own self-generated mythology, calling into question one of Cage's most treasured bon mots against his mentor, Schoenberg. When Schoenberg told him he sucked at composing harmony and that "harmony is a brick wall you will never break through," Cage reportedly said, "Then I will spend the rest of my life banging my head against that wall." Gann looked back at some journals closer to the event, and it's clear that Cage's response wasn't nearly so eloquent...something more along the lines of Babbit's "Who cares if you listen?" His Zen solution was tacked on years later, likely.

To be sure, if you're looking for a definitive look at all of Cage's works, this isn't it. Start with one of the bios (nobody seems to like "The Roaring Silence," so maybe consider Kostelanetz's "John Cage (ex)plain(ed)" for a nice, concise intro, or shell out $50 for the big academic one) and then come back here for the buried lede. Also, this is one of those rare music books alongside "Force In Motion" and "Give My Regards to Eighth Street" that I would recommend even to people who don't care about the music featured. It's a damn fine bit of sleuthing on its own.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silence is golden. John Cage knew that. But also silence is not really silent. Life is noise or sounds - so his famous piece is about the mixture of sound in a place, that occurs in a very strict time zone: four minutes and 33 seconds. Kyle Gann, a composer and Professor of Music at Bard College wrote a whole book regarding this piece by John Cage as well as its culture. It's a non-academic yet smart book about Cage and how he wrote "4'33" and what it means to the composer as well as to the world. Cage is one of the few composers, whose work goes beyond music, and into the world of philosophy. It goes beyond the five senses, and into Zen, mediation, and what is exactly 'silence' and what does that represent. It's not anti-noise or sound, but letting sound do its own thing, in that format. A fascinating book, but a fun one to read as well. Due that Cage is both serious and funny at the same time. Gann captures those moments in "4'33" and beyond.

[Marvin]

I have yet to read this essay on John Cage's controversial composition, 4'33". I would like to. However I would also like to provide a review of the composition...

















Thank you for reading my review.

[Jeroen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very competent and well written book about a subject that could easily be too elusive in a lesser writer's hands.. however it still reads a little too much like an elaborate encyclopedia entry for me to give it a higher rating..

[Marc Weidenbaum]

Simply the best book in the 33 1/3 series of focused books on music that never appeared in the 33 1/3 series. Of course, there couldn't ever have been a 33 1/3 book on John Cage's 4'33", because it was a composition, not a recording -- whether or not it is recordable is another question, just one of the koan-like nuggets that comprise Gann's survey of a piece of music that is seen as a prank by some and a philosophical entreaty by others. That 210-plus pages could be written about a work in which nothing is, technically speaking, played is a testament to the lessons inherent in Cage's most famous work. Gann divides up the story of the work into the Cage himself, influences on the piece, the piece and its reception, and its own influence on culture.

[Sam Asthana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow this was a nice read. Not too superficial, but stated away from too hardcore a deep dive. Instead of an academic text, this was a reflective, oddly personal survey of all kinds of facets of Cage’s background contributing to 4’33”. Enjoyed it.

[Claire]

Comprehensive and very readable overview. Really interesting interludes about Muzak, Satie, and the White Paintings, and the chapter about how the piece is notated (and Cage's evolving understanding of the piece/how to present it) is fascinating.

[Book haver · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly instructive deep dive into everyone’s favorite four and a half minutes of silence. Gann investigates 4’33” from pretty much every angle imaginable: beyond Cage’s traditional biography, much is learned about his admiration of Zen and the work of his contemporaries in other fields, as well as deep dives on chronologies of several lectures across the university circuit. Despite being one of the most well documented avant composers of his time, there is a tantalizing thread of incongruence that runs through much of his own personal mythology and his written history. His penchant for this kind of mythos and inconsistent storytelling is a charming aspect of Cage’s story (albeit frustrating for many biographers I imagine) but it’s especially important here because Gann is taking on the difficult task of piecing together countless possibilities and influences that led to the creation of what is arguably his magnum opus. For example, Cage often cites his visit to one of Harvard’s anechoic chambers of complete silence as an extremely formative experience. Gann looks at his comments and realizes that depending on the different references to this experience, Cage has described a potential range of several years in which his visit happened, occasionally stretching before the chamber even opened. Nonetheless, Gann carries out the musical historian’s duty faithfully and with deep admiration for his subject.

Gann writes brilliantly - I especially appreciate how he positions Cage as singular in his talent but very much in conversation with musical trends that came before and after him. From the clanking manifesto-prone Italian futurists to modern environmental sound artists, from twelve tone serialism to minimalism and pop artists who make winking reference to 4’33”, Cage is a figurehead who links, takes, and gives in a musical world that is at worst dogmatic and and best revelatory.

A working knowledge of classical music and new music is helpful when reading this book, but Gann is so good at what he does that I don’t think it’s actually necessary and you would most likely learn a lot. He makes me think of an enthusiastic genius professor teaching about the subject of experimental music to an introductory level class - he writes with affection for Cage and incomparable historical insight. At every point in the book he is unafraid to counter both popular narratives about 4’33” as well as his own lines of thinking, which adds to the mystery of this piece in an engaging manner.

I am reminded of a time one of my Oberlin professors dropped into the 100 level intro to music history class to do a guest lecture on electronic music. In the middle of the lecture, a violist in the crowd got angry after my professor played a section of Luc Ferrari’s musique concrete masterpiece Presque Rien.

“How is this even music? It’s just noise!” Yelled the violist.

“Well, if we can agree that an artist like a photographer manipulates several parameters to do what they do, like focus, aperture, and shutter speed, the composer can do the same thing with duration, sonority, timbre, and silence, and it just requires us to reframe our musical thought. I can’t really have this debate right now but I’d be happy to talk more after the class is done!” To be an acolyte of Cage is one of the best things anyone can be, I think.

[emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If a lecture is informative, people easily think that something is being done to them, and that they don’t need to do anything about it except receive. Whereas, if I give a lecture in such a way that it is not clear what is being given, then people have to do something about it.”

4’33 was influenced by Eastern meditation, Western Musical Form and a modern New York style of absolute art that painted a canvas absolutely black or absolutely white. I think the piece was necessary to realize that music can exist as sounds around us, and composers can work to build those sounds into this generation’s unique sound.

[Ryan Croke · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you know what this is about then it is a must-read. The author is concise yet descriptive and the story is put together so well. Really is a treasure of a book.

[Mike Zavorskas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, concise introduction to Cage and his music and ideas.

[Tyler Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could easily defeat John Cage in a fight.

[Richard Wu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silence isn’t something I’ve heard in a long time, and is likely something I will never hear again. One of those “you don’t know what you have ‘til it’s gone” things. Little wonder is it, then, that it became an object of obsession whose death resulted in the same prolonged grief and mourning typical of, well, I suppose anything one holds dear.

Yet. With every passing second, possibilities unfold, and several years on, I discovered that I didn’t miss it so much anymore. Is it uncouth to suggest it’s better to learn to grieve with ideas than with people? What I’m about to say might sound even more heretical: It is possible to prefer one’s current or future state, sans said object of endearment, to one’s previously idealized past. 4’33’’ enables such a function.

When I first encountered the piece, back when I could still hear the sound of silence, I suspected it was a huge joke, I mean who would sit down, on purpose, to “listen” to a pianist play not a single note for almost five minutes? Some further investigation told me the idea was that anything could be considered music, including the audience’s coughing and flatulence. Okay, sure. A urinal could also be considered art, as could a canvas painted solid white. Trivially true. What I didn’t realize at the time, and I suspect this is something that requires a certain amount of lived experience to appreciate, is that we each have the ability to infuse into “noise” our emotive connotations of “music,” but are—tend to be—limited from doing so by socially generated (enforced?) aesthetic standards. Two examples. Who has not heard a baby giggle with delight at the smallest burp or softest rustle? And who dares claim the deaf person hearing—human voices, road traffic, anything, everything—for the first time does not experience the same (more, I would argue) emotional gravitas as the master conductor summoning forth Beethoven’s Ninth? Meaningfully true.

Know how to look and you can create a world of ideas from any unit of content. Going back to Cage’s “Silent Sonata,” one may wonder, for instance, why the piece is as long as it is, why it is divided into three movements, how its composer ever got the idea, who is its intended audience, what sort of reactions it inspired, when was it composed and how did it gain publicity… The list of questions seems expansive enough for a book to be written, and indeed, one has. Now although I hesitate to fault those who dismiss such philosophical experiments as frivolous nonsense, I have much respect for those who maintain a basic curiosity about strange, perhaps awkward phenomena—and even more for those with the audacity to push the envelope, so to speak, by creating (and promoting) their own.

Regarding the book itself, I believe the first paragraph and related endnote reveal all a reader needs to know about its author Kyle Gann:

The Maverick Concert Hall is a lovely open-air theater just south of Woodstock, New York, rustically fashioned to blend with its natural environment. Built like a large barn but with a more gradually pitched roof and striking diagonal windows, the hall opens in the back through four double doors onto additional rows of wooden benches in the open air. There are about as many seats outside as in. Oak, maple, hemlock, and shagbark hickory trees intrude gently on the listening space.1

1. Actually, by 2008 the hemlock trees had succumbed to disease and had to be cut down. The remaining stumps are several feet in diameter.

But I’m sure you're still curious... This book, is it a conversational tool to stroke the egos of pretentious cocktail party navel gazers? Or a potential salve for those suffering under a tyranny of sonic annoyance?

And of course the answer is yes.

Favorite Quotes
“[A] later commentator once asked, with humorous insight, ‘If he who knows does not speak, why did Lao Tzu write five thousand words?’ There has been a parallel question about Cage: if he loved listening to the environment, why did he write so much music?” [p.136]

“To compose silence was not only a paradox or provocation, but an impossibility. Cage had been used to thinking of sound and silence as opposites; he now understood them as merely aspects of the same continuum, in keeping with the Zen tendency to dissolve dualities… The idea that had begun as negation—a respite from the forced listening of Muzak—now became affirmation, an acceptance of those sounds over which one has no control, and which one did not intend. The anechoic chamber revealed the futility of the negation, while Zen offered the alternative, affirmative attitude. Without both these sides of the equation, 4’33’’ might not have happened.” [p.163]

“As he did with so many sources, Cage picked this citation for his collection because it bolstered what he was already tempted to believe.” [p.124]

[Judd Street · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 5-star and 3-star book simultaneously: five for its reflections on not just the meaning of the piece but the challenge of ascribing meaning to such a piece at all; three for having portions that felt more encyclopedic than manuscript.

In "No Such Thing as Science," Kyle Gann grapples with the question of what the piece really means. John Cage's 4'33" is, simultaneously, the most and least understood piece of music; it means everything and it means nothing. Gann brings us into this complexity, doing a really nice job of balancing the local question ("what does this specific piece mean?") with the more global one ("can we ever really know what a song means?").

To help us make sense of this, we get a fairly readable and engaging (with the exception of a middle chapter) tour through the context, Cage's life, and the reception to the piece. This middle chapter, featuring a list-like rendition of Cage's influences, is one of the weak points, in my view: while it's valuable content, it's hard to follow a narrative thread throughout these punctuated and siloed influences, and it becomes a bit of a slog.

But what, really, is 4'33"? Are we meant to reflect on the silence or the background noise? Does it have an underlying theory or is it meant to be entirely agnostic? Do the details even matter, like the length, presentation, or performer? Is it music at all?

Gann ultimately settles on an optimistic note: that all these questions; that the broad public engagement with the idea of circumventing musical norms and paying attention to alternative sounds and compositions... that these mean the piece has succeeded. It's perhaps not the rich theory ending I craved (e.g., that we can't really resolve any of those underlying dualities...), but it's a fair place to end up and an interesting study of an influential, norm-breaking piece of music.

[Dave Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed and wide-ranging, while still being compact and having the scope of just a single piece of music (or art, or philosophy, or what-have-you). The way Gann lays out the piece's antecedents, influences and impact is really interesting, and helps widen Cage as a unique, and uniquely American figure, while at the same time showing his Zen/Eastern-influenced side. It's probably a little specialized for a wide audience, but if you're interested in modern music, modern art or Eastern philosophy, Two-and-a-half personal notes: this came out in 2010? I could have sworn it was more recent... second, it brought me joy to see a cover blurb my college music professor, Bill Duckworth, who passed away in 2012 and was a really tremendous composer and thinker. Finally, I was reminded, near the end of the book and its note about Cage's passing, that when I took piano lessons as a youngster (around 1st grade) there was a chart in the piano studio showing the timelines of when various great composers lived and died. This was in the early '90s, and Cage and Copland were the only living figures listed. I remember thinking, "that's interesting, composers are still around today!" It might have been more of an influence on my later interests than I realized...

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. Really, really fascinating.

I picked this up on a whim at a thrift store while vacationing in Washington State. I knew what the sub-titular piece was, but not much more. I turned out to be very engaging and fairly quick read, though I must admit it is far enough outside my wheelhouse that I did not really understand large portions of it. I just kept reading. Kudos to the author. I think I understand 4'33" much better now.

As an Evangelical Christian, I will observe as a caution to my friends, this book contains a great deal of uncritical discussion of spiritual, moral, and philosophical worldviews at odds with Biblical teaching. The reader is advised to exercise discernment throughout. For some, this will actually enhance the appeal in the book for apologetic interest, and I would not discourage you from it.

[Rodrigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally finished this book back in May while my newborn son was undergoing phototherapy for ictericia. I've since returned it to its owner but I can recall feeling that I could go on reading Gann talk about the aspects of zen in Cage's 4'33. If you love Cage and have an appreciation for his work then you can't go wrong with this book. Very clear and concise, Gann lays out all the variables before, during and after 4'33 and there are lots of people and concepts to consider. Rauschenberg, Wolff and the arrival of Muzak. Check it out and then close your eyes and listen!

[Matthew B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and eye-opening. Recommended read even if you're not very much into performance art — it didn't suddenly make me believe John Cage's notorious work 4'33" is the experimental performance piece to end all experimental performance pieces, but it made me understand and appreciate the philosophy behind it and the potential interpretations that have arisen throughout the decades. Kyle Gann does a wonderful job describing Cage's life and work (as that of other artists) in such a clear and engaging manner.

[Alex Daly · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a few historical details about the score itself that I hadn't read before. Otherwise, a pretty standard book about Cage and this infamous piece for a popular audience.

[Jay Odd · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely little book about John Cage, 4'33", Cage's inspirations and some of the people in his life.

[Garrett Schleich · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who produces music and loves exploring the psychological meaning and thought process behind composing music, I found this book to be a very interesting. I was educated on the history and story of a great artist. Overall I would say this is a solid book. Definitely a good read for people interested in music.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

In "There's No Such Thing as Silence" Kyle Gann argues that 4'33'', John Cage's famous silent piece, is his central and unifying work, the key to unlocking his entire ouevre. Though Cage composed in a bunch of styles throughout his career, his early highly structured and mathematical percussion works, his prepared piano pieces, his chance determined compositions, his chaotic and theatrical performance art pieces, Gann posits that 4'33" is his the fullest realization of his artistic vision.

Gann begins by considering many possible interpretations of 4'33", examining it as a contextual frame through which we might appreciate ambient sounds as legit music, a zen exercise, as a performance-art style provocation, as a mere insult, and as a composerly joke. I love that Gann gives page time to Cage's detractors. This allows him to talk about Cage with an obvious affection and deep appreciation, without seeming too much of a fanboy. Then, to arrive at the most informed interpretation possible, which is obviously the point of the book, he examines Cage's artistic history, his discography, everything he's ever publicly thought about, and anybody he's ever mentioned as influential. He's totally thorough, and anybody interested in John Cage could read this and learn a satisfying amount. Though I also recommend watching everything you can find on youtube, because his personality and manner provide additional insight into his music.

Though Gann argues that 4'33" is his central piece that unifies his art, I would say that the contents of this book suggest the opposite in a mirror image sort of way. 4'33" has no meaning without the rest of Cage's output, it's a reseptical of meaning requiring a generous and interested interpretation, it's empty unless you put stuff in it, which is why Gann tells us about all of the other great stuff that he's done. To give weight to 4'33", Gann points out that Cage thought about a silent work for 6 years before he actually made it. This is the exact opposite of an art school punk who shows up late for class with empty hands scrambling at the last minute for an intellectual cop-out. That guy's 4'33" is a piece of garbage to me. This is the Pierre Menand syndrome- identical works can have radically different readings based on how we choose to understand them, and authorial context can provide an important in-road to a work. If a silent piece requires a generous interpretation, and I would say it does, a listener needs a reason to be generous. Cage gives us that reason, I think that its Cage himself that provides the rich texture to his awesome silent piece 4'33".

And Gann does a good job of showing us the nexus of thought, taste, humor, style, and personality, that is the genius of John Cage. Its exactly what I look for in an intellectual biography- generous, affectionate, and thorough, without being too fawning. It brings to mind Lester Bang's relationship with Lou Reed, which I think is the exact right attitude to have towards genius- to love all that we gain from it, but not to ignore bullshit, and not to place the fortunate conduit of awesome thoughts and gifts on a separate and lofty plain.

[an infinite number of monkeys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Influences come together, resonances spread out. 4'33", despite seeming to be the sound of a vacuum, didn't happen in one. Using John Cage's most famous (and infamous (yes, the 'and infamous' bit is kinda obvious and I am a little ashamed of it)) composition as centerpiece, Kyle Gann does a fine job of explaining where Cage was coming from, and where he and those who followed would go. That Gann undertook the work at all shows a bias against those who would dismiss 4'33" as just a prank or a hoax; he shows how the composer's many influences and previous work came together in the creation of something terribly new. Not everyone got it, but many did, and some who did also created wonderful things influenced by Cage and his music. No Such Thing as Silence probably won't convince those who still don't get it, but is good reading for the choir Gann's preaching to.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew a little bit about 4'33" as well as Cage himself. But I felt that Gann did an excellent job of presenting an easy-to-follow and thorough look at the people and movements that contributed to this seminal work of modern music.

I will say that I already had a strong interest and background in both minimalist art/music and buddhist history and thought. So the book already fell in my areas of interest. But I learned quite a bit that was new to me. Most specifically, the book ignited my interest in some of the other composers mentioned in the book, notably Morton Feldman.

I understand that there are people who see the piece as a joke or a sham. I can understand why many people would react that way. But I think this book would be an excellent way for these people to place the work in its historical context and perhaps get a greater appreciation for what Cage was doing.

[Skyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I've read all year.

"What was this piece, this "composition" 4'33"? For so famous and recent a work, the number of questions that still surround it is extraordinary--from its lost original manuscript, to its multiple notations, to unexplained deviations in the lengths of the movements, to the peculiar process of adding up silences with which it was composed to the biggest ambiguity of all: How are we supposed to understand it? In what sense is it a composition? Is it a hoax? A joke? A bit of Dada? A piece of theater? A thought experiment? A kind of apotheosis of twentieth-century music? An example of Zen practice? An attempt to change basic human behavior?"
--Kyle Gann

[Bernard Norcott-mahany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prof. Gann does us all a great service in setting this radical piece by John Cage in its historical and musical context. While it is easy to dismiss the work (4 min and 33 sec of silence) as a joke, it is clear that Prof. Gann feels there is a lot of serious thought that went into the work, and that the work has had serious consequences in what composers consider music. Rather like the Buddha's lecture where he simply held up a flower, and only one student "got it," Gann led me to reconsider the work and encouraged me to give it another listen.

[Jim Angstadt · Rating 2 out of 5]

No Such Thing as Silence: John Cage's 4'33"
by Kyle Gann

This is a story about a silent composition that is 4 minutes and 33 seconds long, and the composer who wrote it. The book's title gives one additional insight into the metaphorical value of the composition. Yet, for me, this approach is more about abstract references and not at all about the quality or type of music that one would listen to for enjoyment or edification. It just does not seem sufficiently relevant for me; and I do like some of Cage's music. Bailed.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kyle is one of the smartest, most cogent, most well-read (and well-listened) writers about contemporary music out there right now, better even, in my opinion, than Alex Ross, whom I nonetheless love to pieces. This book is a total joy to read, taking Cage's revolutionary work and delving not only into the philosophy behind it, but using it as a launching point for an overview of Cage's life and a history of American classical music in the 20th century. And, of course, his music.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A marvelous analysis of 4'33'' with the kind of creative insight I have come to love in Gann's writing. The collected thoughts here may at times drill into histories that may be obscure to some, but for me it was a glorious re-view of my Cagean studies. Despite an interesting omission of Pauline Oliveros's "Deep Listening" work in the chapter on Legacy, I was enthralled with the book all the way through.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent fast read. Useful as a compendium of current thinking on Cage's most well-known piece, as well as a warts-and-all analysis of how it came to be and the impact it's had on music and popular culture. Makes a great case for 4'33" being foremost a musical translation of zazen, but also argues that it's not quite that simple. Packed with useful quotes from Cage and his contemporaries.