From Lukas Bergstrom Sent Mon, Aug 23rd 1999, 22:08
> >I think Cage was probably the most important experimentalist ever. BUT his > >aesthetic system ("all sound--intentional or not--is musical") isa pretty > lame one, >imo. To be sure, all sounds can be considered artistically. But > I think "music" has >to be reserved for something separate from the buzzing > noise of the computer >terminal I sit in front of. If noise is music, then > everything is music (everything is >intrinsically noisy), and music, as an > art form, loses its virtue. Brian Eno once did a field recording of some street corner...15 minutes (I think) of car doors slamming, people walking by, etc. He then listened to it constantly over the next week until he had it memorized. At that point, it sounded like music to him -- the entire 15 minutes seemed to be some kind of composition. Or maybe he was just spouting off. In any case, my favorite ambient music experiences have been with my windows wide open to get as much street noise as possible. I'm usually doing something else at the time, so the album will end and it'll be an hour before I realize I've been appreciating the sound of my radiator coughing. An appreciation for sound doesn't devalue art. We listen to different things for different reasons, and have the capability to enjoy all of them for what they are. Lukas