In-Class Listening Exercise | Week 9

 

John Cage Imaginary Landscape No. 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLDxqnksY80

• What particular noises vs. sounds can you detect in the piece? List as many as you can.

1. symbols
2. gongs
3. plucking of a stringed instrument
4. high pitched hum (from a computer?)
5. drill (reminded me of being in a chair at the dentist's office waiting for a cleaning)
6. vibrations (like a cell phone ringing on a table)
7. beeping from a machine (reminds me of someone in a hospital)    

• What is the effect of noise on the your understanding of the content of the piece? How would you characterize the work and why? Does it function as art, music, or as an environment/space?

It was frustrating for me to listen to the sounds of the instruments used here because I could not pin point some of the exact instrument being used. I was just familiar with the actual noises they produced and felt like I have heard them before. The piece was repetitive, especially with the gongs/symbols being played over. As I was listening to the piece, I kept picturing the noises in my head, which distracted me from the actual audio whenever I was stuck on a noise I could not figure out.

I would characterize this work more as an art piece than as music. However, I can see this being used as music for a soundtrack to a scary film. Today, society defines music as a noise that have meaning; a rhythmic beat you can dance to or sing along to. At first I did not identify this piece as music. The second time listening to it changed my perspective. While listening to the piece, it made me feel like I was isolated or dropped off in the middle of a creepy room. I kept visioning this sound being used in a scary part of a movie (especially when a character is walking around in the dark lost and alone).