Water Walk - John Cage

The Art of Noise Response

In the beginning of the article Russolo begins by discussing how "Ancient life was all silence." And with the industrial revolution and integration of machines in society, noise was then born. He then talks about how nature is mostly silent (minus major catastrophes in which the world is destroyed). I don't know why, but I have a huge problem with that statement. I guess it depends upon how you define "noise," and I suppose Russolo is referring to a type of manufactured sound, man made ones. But often, I tend to think that no sound in itself is a noise of its own.

Later in the article Russolo talks about how there is no point to to noise that is only pleasant to the ear, and it is not productive to reject exclusively loud noises. Looking at it from an artist point of view, I can kind of see how images that are pleasing to the eye have just as much power as those that aren't. The same goes here with sound/music/noise. Just because a noise is not thought of as conventional, it is not useful to only write it off as annoying or loud. These noises have just as much meaning (maybe more?) than those that are simply agreeable to the ear. This relates to my conclusion from before, of no sound being sound itself. No sound/noise has just as much meaning as one that is traditional music or more futurist compositions.