John Cage's Differences Between Sound And Music

What is the difference between sound and music? Many people say that music is a form of dance, art, and expression. It is an assembly and combinations of sound that is played with musical instruments or digital media. Listening to music sparks up certain emotions depending on the message it conveys and how the song sounds. On the other hand, sound is just sound, waves of vibration traveling from one point to another. It can literally be anything that we can hear, or feel; It is nature communicating with you. For example, the voices you hear walking down city streets, the sound of birds chirping, a dog collar that jingles as someone passes by you walking the their dog, the traffic honking, food sizzling from outside vendors, the wind blowing in your face. All of these things are sound, but is this considered music? John Cage is famous for his musical theories about sound and how silence is not silence, but sound from silence is music because it evokes emotions. For this paper, I am going to dig deeper …show more content…
In fact, his philosophy on music, sound, and silence is what makes him interesting versus his musical compositions. In my opinion, music is organized, different sections of a song are put together in order to convey meaning. In Webster’s dictionary music is defined as “an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.” To Cage, a major point in his writings is that all sounds are equal, he states that “no one can have an idea once he starts really listening.” To him, there is no such thing as silence. Cage argues that feelings are conveyed in the mechanical and electronic sense when any sound is made, or a combination of them. In Cage’s essay “History of Experimental Music in the United States”: he supports this when he says “ any sounds in combination and in any succession are henceforth free to be used in a musical