Quote:
Originally Posted by Frownland
And you were saying that it's not a composition because it supposedly doesn't take any compositional skill. You also seem to think that "rest" means "stop," which isn't the case. A rest is where the instrument is silent. A composition (discounting free form music and real time composition) is a guide for the performer to use in a piece as to what to do. Since a silent piece dictates what the performer should do (which in this case is nothing), doesn't that make it a composition?
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First of all, no, I did not say anything about skill, that's a strawman. I know nothing about John Cage's ability as a composer, but I certainly am not going to count a
non-composition against his skill as one.
If there isn't any sound being made, then does the difference between a stop or a rest or falling asleep in your chair make any ****ing difference? Whatever the musicians may or may not be doing with their instruments has nothing to do with the silence, anymore than a tiger-repelling rock has to do with repelling tigers. They just happen to be there. So, if you want to call a bunch of pointlessly written down notes and rhythms and time signatures a composition, then go right ahead. But you get exactly the same silence without it.