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4'33 by John Cage Any good music must be an innovation1 (Baxter). Society changes as history has shown.

Music is a reflection of society; philosophers argue whether or not music is the one who has the effect on society or is affected by society. Les Baxter states that good music is advancement to what music is and therefore is an effect on society. I believe that music is an observation of society and good music is able to demonstrate these observations in an evolution of what music already is. John Cages innovating performance of 4'33 is an evolution and a challenge to what the traditional definition of music. I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music2 (Joel). Though music changes, it is one thing -along with art- in our world that is universal and timeless. Music express our emotions and what feel. There is a huge difference between emotions and what we feel; emotions are defined by words like happiness, sadness, or anger. What we feel is defined by feelings like being uncomfortable or feeling exhilaration. John Cages performance of 4'33 identifies tension in or everyday environment of human nature. When I listened to this performance all I heard was sounds of people. When you listen to music you can hear the desired note a composer wrote to make the piece complete by the time everyone applauds. John Cages performance of 4'33 made his piece different for a reason. I believe the reason why John Cage presented this performance is because he wanted to broaden societys mind to explore music as sounds and noises rather than the tradition pieces with the traditional instruments. He wanted society to show us how he thought the music was natural human sounds in a tense room and how
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Baxter, Les. Joel, Billy

we could be considered an instrument by ourselves rather a violin or drum. John Cages performance of 4'33 was meant to make the definition of music evolve into something more extensive, accepting, and embracing.

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