Silence. John Cage

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      to an organ-

      ically de-

      veloping one.

      Where none of these

      or other goals

      is present, si-

      lence becomes some-

      thing else—not si-

      lence at all, but

      sounds, the ambi-

      ent sounds. The na-

      ture of these is

      unpredicta-

      ble and changing.

      These sounds (which are

      called silence on-

      ly because they

      do not form part

      of a musi-

      cal intention)

      may be depen-

      ded upon to

      exist. The world

      teems with them, and

      is, in fact, at

      no point free of

      them. He who has

      entered an an-

      echoic cham-

      ber, a room made

      as silent as

      technologi-

      cally possible,

      has heard there two

      sounds, one high, one

      low—the high the

      listener’s ner-

      vous system in

      operation,

      the low his blood

      in circul-

      ation. There are, dem-

      onstrably, sounds

      to be heard and

      forever, giv-

      en ears to hear.

      Where these ears are

      in connection

      with a mind that

      has nothing to

      do, that mind is

      free to enter

      into the act

      of listening,

      hearing each sound

      just as it is,

      not as a phe-

      nomenon more

      or less approx-

      imating a

      preconception.

      ¶What’s the histo-

      ry of the chan-

      ges in my com-

      position means

      with particu-

      lar reference

      to sounds? I had

      in mind when I

      chose the sounds for

      Construction inMetal that they should be sixteen for each player. The number six- teen was also that of the num- ber of measures of four-four in each unit of the rhythmic struc- ture. In the case of the structure this number was divided four, three, two, three, four; in the case of the materi- als the gamuts of sixteen sounds were divided into four groups of four. The plan, as preconceived, was to use four of the sounds in the first sixteen measures, intro- ducing in each succeeding struc- tural unit four more until the exposi- tion involving all sixteen and lasting through the first four units was completed. The subsequent parts, three, two, three, four, were composed

      as develop-

      ment of this in-

      itial situ-

      ation. In ac-

      tuality,

      this simple plan

      was not real-

      ized, although it

      was only re-

      cently that I

      became fully

      aware that it

      was not. I had

      known all along

      that one of the

      players used three

      Japanese tem-

      ple gongs rather

      than four, but the

      fact that only

      three of these rel-

      atively rare

      instruments were

      then availa-

      ble to me, to-

      gether with the

      attachment I

      felt towards their sound,

      had convinced me

      of the rightness

      of this change in

      number. More se-

      rious, however,

      it seems to

      me now, was the

      effect of beat-

      ers: playing cow-

      bells first with rub-

      ber and then with

      metal multi-

      plied by two the

      number СКАЧАТЬ