4.33

 Four minutes is not a long time, but in complete silences it seems like a lifetime has past to the modern day performer. When we had performed the piece in class it was odd to me how much effort it took not to turn and laugh at my friend next to me. There we were standing there with maracas in hand doing absolutely nothing. I felt like I should have been very serious, but I wanted to smile because it wasn't though the activity called for me to look like someone had run over my favorite cat. But just standing there, listening to the natural ambiance was...somehow unsettling. There was no 'noises' to fill to the void and it seemed even more maddening that I had something in my hand to sort of awaken the silence. We touched upon in class how in today's society we always seem to be surrounded by noise. From the morning until we finally fall asleep there is 'noise' everywhere and we grow uncomfortable with silence. I think in that regards John Cage's piece symbolizes something that we need as human beings. We don't meditate anymore which in our fast paced world seems useless and out of date. I guess Cage was filling a need that most of us still don't understand.