20th Century Music

Questions
1. What is the lecture mainly about?
A. The ideas behind a piece by an avant-garde composer
B. The influence of twentieth-century painting on Avant-grade music
C. The traditional elements in a famous piece of avant-garde music
D. Development of reactions to twentieth-century experimental art forms
2. According to the professor, how did Rauschenberg's white paintings influence John Cage?
A. They made him realize that artists should not be concerned with their audience.
B. They made him realize that an artwork with little content could still be rich in meaning.
C. They demonstrated the importance of collaborating with artists in other fields.
D. They inspired him to compose music that created visual impressions in listeners.
3. Why was the experience of visiting anechoic chamber significant for Cage?
A. He realized that he could still hear sounds inside the chamber.
B. He realized that echoes could be eliminated from a musical piece.
C. He learned the possibility of recording his body's natural sound.
D. He discovered that music did not need to be composed in silence.
4. What was Cage's attitude toward found sound?
A. He considered found sound to be a theoretical concept with no practical use.
B. He believed any noises could be musical if arranged carefully.

C. He believed that unintentional noises could serve as replacements for musical instruments.
D. He believed that compositions with random noises could be interpreted in different ways.
5. What does the professor imply when he discusses the audience at the first performance of
4'33"?
A. He believes that outside noise might have distracted the audience.
B. He thinks that music critics appreciated the piece more than the general audience did.
C. He thinks that the audience was not mature enough to appreciate the piece.
D. He thinks that the audience's response to the piece was understandable.
6. Why does the professor think that many of today's performances of 4'33" are misinterpreted?
A. They are performed mostly outdoors.
B. They contain intentional sounds.
C. They last longer than 4 minutes and 33 seconds.
D. They do not include an actual piano.
Answerkey:
1.A
2.B
3.A
4.C
5.D
6.B
Listen to part of a lecture in a music history class.
P: OK, we're gonna continue our discussion of 20th century music. In the early 20th century, some
composers in Europe and the United States, composers of so-called classical music had already started
abandoning traditional forms... um... in favor of newer and different ways. They were exploring new
types of making music. As the century progressed though, the styles of avant-garde composers began to
take further shape. People didn't always appreciate new styles of music being experimented. It was
actually the other way around. You see, for many people, avant-garde music was too radical and
difficult. They even thought the government should put a ban on it. Now, as a case in point, let's look at
the composer John Cage. Cage is among the most famous composers of 20th century avant-garde music.
His earliest compositions were written in a traditional style, but then he quickly moved on to create
unique kinds of works. So, what caused him to change? He had two particular experiences that entirely
changed how he thought about music. One was when he met with the avant-garde painter, Robert
Rauschenberg in 1951. Now, what does painting have anything to do with making music? Well, avant-
garde is a term that applies to a lot of artistic genres. (2) The famous painter, Rauschenberg had created
a series of famous painting that was composed mainly of white paint. There was basically nothing on his
paintings... just different textures of white. I mean, literally... just white. However, the concept behind
these paintings actually wasn't so simple. He was trying to show that even if you don't create any
artwork, you can still have something ... because even on a purely white canvas, there's still plenty to
see... shadows, reflections, dust. Rauschenberg's white painting was highly influential for Cage and
opened up a whole new way of understanding what art could be. The other important experience in
Cage's development came when he stepped into an anechoic chamber of Harvard University. An
anechoic chamber is a room with walls that are designed to absorb all sounds made in the room. The
word, anechoic means totally silent. (3) So this is an ideal place where you can experience absolute
silence. When Cage entered the room, he heard two unexpected sounds - one high, his nervous system
in operation, one low, his blood in circulation. He was deeply affected. It was at this point that he
realized that music doesn't need to be created intentionally. It is already all around us. (4) This idea is
what came to be called found sound,. Basically it's the sounds that are already there... traffic outside
your windows, raindrops or whatever. Cage thought that they were just as musical as sounds made by
musical instruments. It was these experiences that led Cage to create a composition that would express
the idea of found sound. He wanted to provide an opportunity for the audience to identity random and
natural sounds of the environment as music. So he composed his most famous piece called 4'33"
commonly known as the silent composition. This piece was completely silent. It consisted of the pianist
going up to the piano and not hitting any keys for four minutes and thirty-three seconds. In other words,
the entire piece consisted of silence. The only thing the pianist did was raise and lower the lid of the
keyboard to let the audience know the beginning and ending of a movement. This composition had
three movements but not a single note was played in any of them. Well, when it was first performed on
stage, the audience was furious. People began whispering to one another, and some people began to
walk out. It was called ridiculous and crazy by critics. For Cage, though, the music was just fine. He said
that the audience was scandalized because they just missed the whole point of his music. He believed
that there was no such thing as silence, no such thing as a complete absence of sound. During the
performance, in fact, there were sounds of the wind in trees, raindrops pattering on the roof and people
muttering. Cage had a different understanding of silence. He defined silence as simply the absence of
intended sound or rather turning off our awareness. If we give up intention, then we hear silence. So, to
understand 4'33" as music, the audience had to pay close attention to the sound around it. (5) Well, this
was quite revolutionary so the reactions of people at the time were pretty much legitimate. I mean, it's
confusing and even confounding to people even today. Cage's silence composition is still performed all
over the world. (6) Unfortunately, though, I guess it's often misinterpreted. You see, it's been
choreographed, so sometimes it includes dance performances with the beat of the dancer's feet against
the stage floor. And they make some noises on purpose to call attention to the fact the piece is basically
silent. Now do you think these performances reflect Cage's ideas well?

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Questions

1. What is the lecture mainly about?

A. The ideas behind a piece by an avant-garde composer

B. The influence of twentieth-century painting on Avant-grade music

C. The traditional elements in a famous piece of avant-garde music

D. Development of reactions to twentieth-century experimental art forms

C. They demonstrated the importance of collaborating with artists in other fields.

A. He realized that he could still hear sounds inside the chamber.

B. He realized that echoes could be eliminated from a musical piece.

C. He learned the possibility of recording his body's natural sound.

D. He discovered that music did not need to be composed in silence.

4. What was Cage's attitude toward found sound?

A. He considered found sound to be a theoretical concept with no practical use.

B. He believed any noises could be musical if arranged carefully.

A. He believes that outside noise might have distracted the audience.

D. He thinks that the audience's response to the piece was understandable.

A. They are performed mostly outdoors.

B. They contain intentional sounds.

C. They last longer than 4 minutes and 33 seconds.

D. They do not include an actual piano.

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