Food, one assumes, provides nourishment; but Americans eat it fully aware that small amounts of poison have been added to improve its appearance and delay its putrefaction.
John CageRead
Which is more musical: a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The context in which sounds are produced affects their perception as music.
John Cage’s quote highlights the idea that the environment and setting in which sound occurs can significantly influence how we perceive and categorize those sounds. What might be considered music in one context, such as near a music school, can be seen merely as noise in another, such as near a factory. This suggests that music is not just about the sounds themselves, but also about the relationships and contexts surrounding them.
Themes
MusicContextSoundPerceptionEnvironment
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can spark a discussion about the nature of music in a classroom setting.
More from John Cage
All quotes →There was a German philosopher who is very well known, his name was Immanuel Kant, and he said there are two things that don’t have to mean anything, one is music and the other is laughter. Don’t have to mean anything that is, in order to give us deep pleasure.
John CageRead
I remember loving sound before I ever took a music lesson. And so we make our lives by what we love.
John CageRead
I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.
John CageRead
People who aren't artists often feel that artists are inspired. But if you work at your art you don't have time to be inspired.
John CageRead
Let no one imagine that in owning a recording he has the music. The very practice of music is a celebration that we own nothing.
John CageRead
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