John Cage

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John Cage - As the sounds that one listens to when silence is performed

By Marcus Grant

John Cage was a monumental American philosopher, composer, artist and music theorist who revolutionised how society visualise and perceive sound. Cage is best known for his 1952 composition which is performed in absolute and deliberate silence. Sound is formed through vibrations which travel through the air and is recorded by decibels. Sound is a fundamental aspect of art because it has created popular sounds. John cage focused mostly on silence. Cage ‘imagined a musical scenario bearing no trace of humans’ (Benjamin Piekut 2013), therefore he blocked out human noise and considered other aspects of sounds such as the nature. Cage wanted to change how we understand sound, instead of reading music notes, society would visualise it instead. Cage explored non human sounds while ‘allowing random events to function’ (Marc G. Jensen 2006) which was illustrated through an abstract expressionism.

Throughout my design process I attempted to remove human noises such as voices and focusing on other objects and natural sounds. Throughout the development I explored and experimented with a variety of sounds performed in silence such as wind, rain, shoes scrapping the ground and other mediums. During this process I evidently achieved my sounds of a pedestrian walk button which changes from stop then go, seagulls repetitively shrieking and finally shoes scrapping on the ground in an echoing tunnel. These forms of sound were discovered while I was in multiple locations around UTS campus while I was observing sounds. I recorded the decibel units which helped me create my digital illustration. The average frequency was 71.2 dB however all three form of sounds had different frequencies that created a pattern which I considered within my drawing. Within my digital drawing I wanted to connote the sound I recorded therefore I considered the different resources and mediums to use to visually communicate this.

The colours I used all reflect the sound chosen. I used red and green to represent the pedestrian button. These symbolic colours refer to stop and go which is the fundamental reason I implemented them. The direction of the red and green line reflect the decibel pattern. I implemented orange arrow shape lines in a random order towards the end of the green lines because this symbolic colour reflects the seagulls beak where the noise is propelled. The seagulls walked in multiple directions which reflects the positing of the drawing. The repetitive footsteps are visualised through black scattering watercolour towards the bottom of the page. I chose scattered watercolored because each step is not the same similar to splattered colour and it expresses the echoing tunnel. The larger splattered black paint surrounding the page is the sound in the background which is inevitable. The space which is left suggest the symbolic colour of white which can be perceived as absence of sound. I used Cages method of trying to achieve a natural abstract illustration. ‘How sound is used and conceived” (Richard Allen 2013) can change individuals concept of how we visualise sound.

Visual Analysis

John cage draws silence in a variety of ways and this is a very common method he used. These drawing express abstract expressionism which documents sound. Within this image there are a variety of colours such as blue, red and black which dictates the different sounds such as instruments. The lines form a curved aspect which express the different decibels and frequencies which Cage illustrates. The simple black grid provides an understanding of the decibels recorded. The salient black line acts as a vector becasue it allows the eye to follow it through the different sound until the finish.

This close up shot of John Cages work provides explicit detail on the different layers of sound. The colours of red, blue, green, grey and black all play different roles within understanding the sound. Not only does the colour play a crucial role but there are noticible dotted lines and straight lines which are juxtaposed. There are few black dots scattered across the page which provides insight into what Cage was exploring. Similarly to the first image it shows the grid with different frequencies.

This method of recording and drawing sound was an extreme way to consider how we understand sound. This method was a natural way to draw sound, John Cage used rocks, feathers and other materials to paint and draw sound. The black curves on the page were produced by moving the rock in a crcular motion which had black paint on it. This form of art expresses a sense of abstract quality.

Sketches

These scketches in blue consist of ideas of what a variety of sounds would be like if they were drawn. This part was my intial development of exploring differetn ways of visualising sound. Their are many different sounds and frequencys throughout life therfore there are multiple design to communicate this. these cocnepts improved my design thinking to achieve my final digital drawing.

Sound clip

Decibel frequency

Decibels also reffered as dB are units that measure and calculate the intensity of sound. The different decibels measured show a range of frequencies. I used the app Decibel X to record and measure the unit of decibels. The average decibel unit recorded was 71.2 dB, the highest was 86.2 dB and the lowest was 28.4 dB. These units recorded consist of the silent street noise which is then interupted by the pedestrian walk button, repetitive seagulls and the constant steps. At number 24 the decibels rises due to the pedestrian button changing which then gets lower after it stops. The seagull has a similar frequency, the positioning of the bird changed the decibels recorded. The footsteps were fast and constant recording an average of 70 dB.

Final Drawing