Reading Response: The Future of Music: Credo

I chose to read and analyze the article titled, The Future of Music: Credo. This article was written by John Cage in 1937 as a lecture, but first published in 1958. I chose this article because it seemed to include some very abstract ideas for the time period in which it was written. Also, I thought it would be interesting to see what John Cage thought the future of music entailed as of 1937. This article proved to be a very interesting read because I was able to compare John Cage's predictions on the future of music to what has actually happened since the article was written.

In the article, John Cage discusses a few main points regarding the future of music. First, he describes the difference between what we perceive as "noise" and what we perceive as "music". He argues that noise is only noise when we ignore it, but when we actually listen to it we realize its' beauty and want to capture it. Cage also makes the point that noise can be captured and used as a musical instrument, not just as sound effects. The article describes how he believes that this will lead to the use of electrical instruments to make music. Overall, Cage leads the reader to believe that in the future, the line between noise and music will be blurred as a result of the use of electrical instruments and other non-conventional sounds, such as field recordings.

The ideas Cage presents in his article regarding how these field recordings of "noise" can be used as a musical instrument by itself is extremely relevant to my own practice as a media artist. It's relevant because I am often presented with the task of recognizing "musical" qualities in sounds I have recorded in the field. Also, the concept of using electrical instruments to create music relates to how I use editing software to manipulate recordings and create music. All in all, this article helped to open my eyes to the possibilities of field recordings, electrical instruments and recording software in general.