John Cage and Music as An Abstract Form of Art
Overview
This paper examines John Cage's development of the prepared piano and his philosophical approach to music as abstract art. It traces the invention of the prepared piano in 1938 at the Cornish School and analyzes how Cage's experimentation with objects and materials on piano strings created a new instrument capable of infinite timbres and sounds.
What this essay covers
- Introduction and Cage's Background: Cage's work at Cornish School and the contextual problem that led to the prepared piano invention
- Development of the Prepared Piano: Detailed account of Cage's experimental process with pie tins, nails, bolts, rubber, and plastics placed on piano strings
- Our Spring Will Come for Prepared Piano: Analysis of Cage's 1943 composition as an example of chance music and random sound development
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John Cage and Music as An Abstract form of Art
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John Cage and Music as An Abstract form of Art
Introduction and Cage’s Background
In 1938, John Cage had regional fame on the west coast in two areas: percussion composer and composer for modern dance. He had a job in 1938 at a school in Settle Washington called the Cornish School, where he was functioning in both of the aforementioned areas of expertise. When a dance name Savvier Fort approached him about music cum dance that she was developing, a dance on an African theme, there was a major problem detected. The problem is that the performance space where the dance was to be done was not large enough to bring in percussion and somber. They had small range piano, and there was no room for other instruments. Cage had studied earlier with Henry Cowell, who had experimented through stretching the piano strings directly by plucking them with either the flesh or nail of the finger.[1] He also included stroking of strings by swaying them sideways in his experimentations. Cage recalled all of these experiments and repeated them but found nothing that he perceived as adaptable for the African dance piece he was working on completing. He went one step further then and started to play objects on the strings of the piano.