I liked the idea behind John Cage’s “4:33”, but I can understand why people would be confused or agitated. When you really think about it it is interesting that each time the piece is performed it is something different. I would also agree that it was one of the ways in which John Cage opened the door to more exploratory styles of music. Personally, I find this work not only a statement of what music is, but a way to force the audience to be in the moment. In some ways it pushes an appreciation of the simplicity of now. I can also understand why Cage received so much backlash, especially for this piece. Many people are very set in certain mindsets of what something should be and music is definitely one of those things. At the time I’m sure people were convinced that they spent money to hear a melody with traditional instruments and when someone sits down at a piano only to stare at it for four minutes and thirty three seconds they might feel ripped off. I think this particular piece is more about being open minded and exploratory than traditional. Even in today’s music world, certain non-traditional genres receive a lot of scorn. A good example would be edm music. Many people, especially older people, refer to this genre as a collection of sounds rather than a song. I think that John Cage opened the door for genres like this to be more widely accepted.
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