Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Why do you need sheet music of John Cage's 4′33″ to perform it?

+1
−2

At 1:45, Kirill Petrenko has the paper score for 4'33" opened on his conductor stand. But use of sheet music feels guileful and uncandid for 4'33". Can't a competent conductor or musician "conduct" or "perform" 4'33" "from memory"? All a competent conductor or musician TRULY needs — is a time, or stopwatch, and/or smartphone (video from Kyle Shaw B.M. Brigham Young University, 2013. M.M. University of Illinois 2015.).

Image alt text

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

2 comment threads

x-post https://www.reddit.com/r/ElitistClassical/comments/uugsyc/why_do_you_need_sheet_music_of_john_... (1 comment)
x-post https://www.reddit.com/r/musictheory/comments/uuhw6c/why_do_you_need_sheet_music_of_john_cages... (1 comment)

1 answer

+10
−0

Obviously you don't need it. You don't need to have an instrument. Technically, you don't need to do anything. The point of "performing" 4'33" is to create an atmosphere. To do this, performers generally follow the conventions of performing a piece, such as sitting at an instrument, turning the pages, and bowing at the end. Without them, the audience wouldn't know anything special was happening.

Some people consider 4'33" a way to get the audience to focus on the ambience which they normally don't pay attention to. Others consider it all a joke. Either way, it has to be set up to work.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »