John Cage Silence During Protests

By John McWhorter Opinion Writer You're reading the John McWhorter newsletter, for Times subscribers only. A Columbia University linguist explores how race and language shape our politics and culture. Get it in your inbox. Last Thursday, in the music humanities class I teach at Columbia University, two students were giving an in-class presentation on the composer John Cage. His most famous piece is “4’33”,” which directs us to listen in silence to surrounding noise for exactly that period of time. I had to tell the students we could not listen to that piece that afternoon, because the surrounding noise would have been not birds or people walking by in the hallway, but infuriated chanting from protesters outside the building. Lately that noise has been almost continuous during the day and into the evening, including

A screenshot of an article by John McWhorter describes a music humanities class at Columbia University discussing John Cage’s silent composition “4’33”.” The joke is that the class cannot perform the piece because the “surrounding noise” would be furious protest chants rather than ordinary ambient sounds, making the silence absurdly impossible. EN: A screenshot of an article by John McWhorter describes a music humanities class at Columbia University discussing John Cage’s silent composition “4’33”.” The joke is that the class cannot perform the piece because the “surrounding noise” would be furious protest chants rather than ordinary ambient sounds, making the silence absurdly impossible.

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