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I noticed that the following article said that John Cage's "As Slow As Possible" was originally written for the piano. It was then adapted to the organ, and is playing on one now in a church in Germany with an expected completion date in the year 2640. But is this really music? Any John Cage fans out there?

World's slowest musical composition changes chord for first time in seven years -CNN

I am a John Cage fan in the abstract. Which, I think, is exactly the right way to be a John Cage fan....

It also means I never "listen" (or otherwise) to his compositions.

I cannot take a piece like that seriously. I find the idea behind it absurd and insulting to one's intelligence. A trick to get attention.

ShiroKuro & pianoloverus-

From your comments, perhaps we all have the common view that many of John Cage's works like "As Slow as Possible" and "4'33" are better described as being meta-music rather than music? That is, works which are not strictly music in themselves but rather works which make comments about the nature of music?

Sounds complicated


~Lucubrate

Well Eric Satie started this strange approach to rhythm, so I guess we should blame Eric. I mean apart from being so reactive to Wagner what did he think he was doing ?
Now I like Satie's music so perhaps these slow progressions become addictive ?
Is there not something more about 7 years........I mean I have heard about the 7 year Itc...... ,but I have never suffered from it.
Is that when most people buy a new piano ???🤔

He’s a Favorite of Mine


~Lucubrate

I agree with that, yes. Meta-music, music in the abstract, either works.

As for Satie, I must be the only person who likes modern solo piano like Einaudi but doesn’t like Satie. I don’t know why but I have always actively disliked Satie...

I have not listened to any Einaudi , so that is on my list !

I have 3 of His Albums - ‘Islands’, ‘Whisperings’ & ‘In a Time Lapse’

All good Stuff - I highly Recommend!


~Lucubrate

There was a John Cage piece played on an Other Minds program that I thought was absolutely beautiful, but I cannot remember what it was.

He wrote a fascinating piece for a toy piano. I heard a performance of it 😳, and I never realized I could be totally carried away by the sound of a toy piano.

Thanks Lucubrate I shall listen to those.

You first need to define what music is

I'll take the wikipedia definitions

>Music is an art form, and cultural activity, whose medium is sound

>Culture (/ˈkʌltʃər/) is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.

>The arts refers to the theory, human application and physical expression of creativity found in human cultures and societies through skills and imagination in order to produce objects, environments and experiences.

>Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed

Checking the conditions
* yes its medium is sound
* I think it falls under 'culture' even if it's a niche culture
* Yes these musical works are 'physical expression of creativity'.

The pulses (tempo ) are slowed down ,but it exists outside of our day to day sense of time. If the music is symmetrically speeded up to a 3 or 4 hour piece , in other words if we heard all the chords in 4hrs in the correct rhythm ,we may actually understand the piece.
This is what Cage did I think to compose the piece.I think he knew what he was doing ,but I do not know if any of us will ever know listenimg to each chord every 7 years.
I know the piece is about something, but I just cannot say what.
Of course it is music , but music outside of our consciousness
perhaps? I really cannot say.

It is art in the sense that it is music and a comment on music. Like his 4'33. Maybe not even meant to be listened to. Play it faster to hear what it's like and think if it's different played at intended tempo. I like such things a lot, helps you find different perspectives.

His "in a landscape" is fun to play and listen to. Also some of his other piano pieces.

Listening is I find not the same as playing. I thought Einaudi was 'kinda nice' to listen to but quickly tiresome to listen to yet, following recommendations here, I am now playing some and absolutely love it.

Yes I think Cage had the whole form of the piece worked out .
I am not crazy about maths ,so I do not know how to turn this extremly (massively) long slow piece into a piece that lasts only 4hours or 7 hrs( can I sit that long ?)
Bach of course did this in a more "normal " way. For example a
half beat (minim) becomes a whole beat (semibreve) , 8th beats (qauvers) become 1/4 (crotchets) beats .This is doubling the time .We would need fractions of the beats Cage wrote the piece for.
I cannot imagine what notation Cage used to compose this piece. I have no read all about the piece . Do the chords occur exactly at the same time every 7 years ? I need to read the
above again.

Here is the initial chord sequence - with dates! (Sorry they are rather small.)

One word ‘gimmick’