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John Cage Pioneer

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John Cage as a Pioneer of Avant Garde Theater This paper will consist of analyzing the life of John Cage before and after his involvement with Avant Garde Theater. Therefore, this research paper will focus on how John Cage played a pivotal role as one of the early pioneers of the American Avant Garde Theater.
Cage the Artist before the Label
John Cage was born in Los Angeles, on Sept 5, 1912; and he passed away in New York, on Aug 12, 1992. Cage was an American composer. In addition, he was one of the "leading figures of the postwar avant garde"(Pritchett, James, et al). The influence of Cage's compositions, writings, and his personality has been widely felt by litany of composers around the world. Pritchett, James, et al, argue that Cage …show more content…
One can argue the research definitively states that Cage based on was quite fond of Schoenberg and must have felt he could have received tremendous value under his mentorship. Furthermore, Cage had recollections of Schoenberg asking if he had sufficient funds to pay his fees for composition lessons. Here is Cage in his own words in response to Schoenberg's inquiries in regards to his composition …show more content…
He combined classical European training with Eastern spirituality to produce an American fusion of such vivacity and innovation that it continues to define what we mean by avant-garde. His influence has touched generations of artists; including Phillip Glass, David Byrne, and his long time associate Merce Cunningham. His work and ideas have affected not only the world of music, but also theater, dance, painting, printmaking, video art, and poetry. Hence, as a researcher this writer gives Cages his props when it came to his inventions, such the prepared piano, and his pioneering use of indeterminate notation and chance operations in composition (utilizing the I Ching). In addition is worth illuminate the fact that Cage as a performer, printmaker, watercolorist, expert amateur mycologist, game show celebrity, political anarchist, and social activist. It fitting to end this research by stating what we have come to know the late American composer as a game changer/innovator. One can argue Cage was not a composer but an inventor-of genius. In the end the evidence, suggest that Cage was in fact a musical genius. Whether this open for interpretation or not, Cage epitomized the definition of

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