Becoming-Music in 4 Minutes and 33 Seconds

Abstract

In accordance to Langerian aesthetic theory, Mark Campbell (1992) concludes that Cage’s 4’33” (1952) is by no means aesthetic music. I argue the antithesis: Cage’s 4’33” satisfies Langerian aesthetic theory, and is indeed “aesthetic” music. Cage does something more: he satisfies Langerian aesthetic theory, yet he is not limited by it. He does not simply create music, nor does he offer listeners a musical space. He creates what Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (1987) call a line of becoming that passes between music making and a musical space. In 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence, Cage presents a sense of emptiness and numbness felt simultaneously with fullness and explosion. In what appears to be stillness, the listener experiences the flux of movement; what appears to be devoid of depth, is filled with complexities. 4’33” embraces chance, uncertainty, and the unknown; it is an experimental process; it is becoming-music in 4 minutes and 33 seconds.