John Cage leading his experimental composition class,
New School for Social Research, New York, New York
Date
summer 1958
Type
photograph
John Cage taught experimental composition at the New
School for Social Research
multiple times between 1956 and 1959. While the course was very much hands-on, it also
included much philosophical discussion, and some lectures
by Cage, as the course description promised “a full
exposition of the contemporary music scene in the light of
the work of Anton Webern, and present developments in
music for magnetic tape.” Many former students recall the
transformative effect of Cage’s charismatic presence, and
especially his rare combination of rigor and
playfulness—seen here in Cage’s delighted smile. George
Brecht was hardly alone when he explained in 1967 that
Cage’s outsize influence on his students “came as much
from Cage the person as from his works or ideas.”
John Cage leading his experimental composition class,
New School for Social Research, New York, New York,
summer 1958. . In
The Scores Project: Experimental Notation in Music,
Art, Poetry, and Dance, 1950–1975, ed. Michael Gallope, Natilee Harren, and John
Hicks. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2025.
https://www.getty.edu/publications/scores/object-index/560/.
The Scores Project
Experimental Notation in Music, Art, Poetry, and Dance, 1950–1975
