Araño, Prince Joey B.

Music Log III

10 - Bookkeeping Mr. Anthony Nale

4’33 by John Cage

4'33 is a three-movement composition by one of the most controversial and significant

composers of the 20th century, John Cage. It was composed in 1952. Many people thought that it
was some quite Dadaist publicity stunt as it is commonly perceived as “four minutes thirty-three
seconds of silence.” Yet, it is beyond doubt since the score itself instructs the performers not to
play their instruments during the entire duration of the piece throughout the three movements.
Hence, the music conveys the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is
performed.

Personally, listening to John Cage's 4'33 was a bit more of an emotional roller coaster. I
don't understand how and why I felt certain emotions while listening to music. Suddenly, at first,
4'33 got my sixth sense, making me uncomfortable and stimulates my premonitions. Afterward,
this sense of uneasiness gradually replaced by calmness, which makes me let my guard down.
Later on, the feeling of peace gently becomes grief, thus, make me reminisce the hardships I had
in the past.

All in all, 4'33 evince music as a way of expressing, recollecting, and representing
oneself. It made me believe and appreciate music more than I could. Moreover, it breaks the
stigma that only gifted people were able to comprehend what does music means as well as enable
us to understand music in our ways.