[ 매드타임스 박재항 대기자] A pianist dressed in a tuxedo entered the hall while receiving applause in line with the announcer’s introduction. She greeted the audience and sat down on the playing chair. She carefully adjusted her glasses and opened the sheet music to check it. He grabbed the small table clock that was on his piano in his right hand and brought it in front of his eyes. With his left hand, he closes the lid of the keyboard and points at the clock to signal the same beckoning as the conductor does when he starts playing. Then he sits quietly in the playing chair, looking at the clock. After 33 seconds have elapsed, the watch is placed on the original piano and the key cover is opened. After about 5 seconds, I picked up the watch again, closed the lid with the same hand signal, and just looked at the watch for 2 minutes and 40 seconds. After opening it again as before, after about 5 seconds, spend 1 minute and 20 seconds in the same format, set the clock and open the lid, greet the audience and people applaud.
It is a performance scene of John Cage’s ‘4 minutes and 33 seconds’ – which is usually just called ‘four thirty-three’ in English – one of the representative songs of modern avant-garde music. It was first performed on August 29, 1952 at the Maverick Concert Hall in Woodstock, New York. It is also unusual that it was premiered at a venue with the name ‘Maverick’, which means ‘a rebel’ or ‘a person who breaks tradition’, originating from the meaning of ‘a young wild horse that is not tamed’. For many, Woodstock is best known as the venue for the Rock Festival, which took place several days in mid-August 1969. Those who were bewildered by the silent performance at the premiere at that time could have imagined that 17 years later, a rock festival that could be said to be the antithesis of the volume decibels would be held there. More than the common denominator of music, the two have something in common.
A song full of twists and turns. If you look at the score of John Cage’s ‘4:33’, there is only one word, ‘TACET’, which means ‘silence’, under the Roman numerals referring to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd movements. Usually, the piano starts playing by opening the lid, but in this case, it starts by closing it and opens the lid when the performance is finished. Although the title was ‘4 minutes and 33 seconds’, John Cage himself said that the time can be controlled by the performer. However, when an orchestra cut the performance of this song to 3 minutes and 33 seconds, critics said, ‘The tempo is too fast’ and ‘The performance was too short’. In the video of this song’s performance, there are comments saying that it’s absurd or so funny, like ‘I’m not doing anything and it’s really funny’, but one of the people who conducted this performance with the orchestra was wiping sweat from his face with a handkerchief after the first movement was exhausted. showed
There is a saying while trying to create a twist in music, ‘Enjoying the silence between notes’. John Cage says that silence itself can be music. In his words, “Everything we do is music”. It makes no sound, but the performer spends the time of silence in various ways. Others look at the watch as described above, while others play with their fingers as if they were placing their hands on the lid or tapping keys on their thighs. There are no guidelines on what to do. It just spends 4 minutes and 33 seconds in silence, and there is no complete silence. The second hand of the clock rotates, and the player’s breathing is heard enough to distinguish the in-breath from the out-breath. Most of all, the audience can’t stand still and make a rustling sound. Sometimes he coughs and hums to fill the silence. They sound like music. In a way, it can be said that music is made with the audience. Woodstock was so silent, and after that, it opened the door of an era and of music that we make together by radiating the sound of youth.
※ Jay Park Waiting for Mad Times, adjunct professor at Inha University and Hallym University
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