1. How have poetry, dada, and zen influenced the work of John Cage?

Some basic points that Cages touches about is how poetry uses/manipulates time and sound and how dada and zen manipulate and change places and time.  The way that Cage writes though does seem to be influenced with the styling of poetry with each paragraph short and concise trying to make a point, but have this style feel of rhythmic undertone. Simple is the word but deep and complex it in meaning are his words. Dada and zen are the same way. Simple in their words but deep in their meanings. The way he writes also, Cage talks about change through periods of time through the manipulation of objects and technology, a comparison between time periods from one to another. Also another point to touch on is the idea of inspiration through the world around us just something to keep in mind.

2. How does Cage view and define “the future of music” and the role of the composer? Why was this so groundbreaking and still relatively so?

The future of music is not played with just instruments of musical nature but of instruments of a technological nature. The noises around us can be singled out to create and manipulated into a musical tone that can be used, but it is up to the composer of all people to create these music interludes that are pleasant to the audiences ears. Unlike the 19th and 18th century where music was an art using instruments of musical nature, modern times the world around us is full of sounds and noise that can create beauty.

3. What commentary does Cage make regarding the invention of electrical musical instruments?

Cage comments on the fact that electrical instruments make things more convenient for people by creating any tone we desire, any sound,and any beat we want. A bit of the new outdated the old. With the help of the electrical music instruments the composer is able to manipulate sounds from every aspect of life itself and not just traditional musical instruments.

4. How does Cage perceive silence?

Silence are the notes that are not noted in written music. Silence can also be perceived as something that produces no sound not even a natural sound of the environment. Cage believes that as much as we think we can’t hear anything we are always absorbing sound through our daily lives, in the objects around us and in the places we go.

5. What does Cage consider the five determinants of sound to be?

The five determinants of sounds are frequency/pitch; amplitude/loudness; overtone structure/timbre; duration and morphology.

6. How does Cage feel we should change our musical habits (from more mathematical to more natural)?

Cage feels that one should give up control, and let sound be free of mind and free of nature, to be absorbed and taken from things instead of planned and composed through set number and contemplation. With the use of emotions and feeling instead of technicalities. Cage writes of specific instances where each sound can change with each emotion that is expressed, but he also makes a point to say that everyone is different in the way they express themselves.

7. How does Cage make use of chance? How do you interpret this statement:
“The composer resembles the maker of a camera who allows someone else to take the picture.”

Cage makes use of chance by deriving his sounds from his inner emotions and the world around him. The quote is similar to any composer back in the 19th centruy who wrote music. The composer created music or the instrument for the purpose of being replicated by others and to create beautiful music. A camera is no different, according to Cage. A camera has the ability to replicate the images seen and heard by others and to pass on these images to other people to hear and appreciate the beauty of the emotions from each instance.