Annoy Your Friends, Family And Coworkers With This John Cage Prepared Piano App

It’s available for iOS and Android, so everybody can make these wacky sounds.

When it comes to modern classical experimentation, one person’s groundbreaking musical brilliance is often another’s violently-annoying noise. But whether you are a John Cage acolyte or find “music” a too generous word to describe his work, a new app by the John Cage Trust will give you plenty of opportunities to understand the philosophy behind the composer’s radical piano experiments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUTXNxFvjDw

The “John Cage Piano” app takes meticulously sampled sounds of actual material John Cage used in preparation for his Sonatas and Interludes from 1946-8. Cage’s innovation was placing objects beneath and between the strings of a grand piano to create an entirely new instrument and timbre. It was considered a profane act, but it opened up a whole new realm of possibility in the instrument.

With the app, you can choose to play hack saws, drill bits, chisels or bits of stone and metal, creating your own adaptation of Cage’s work in the process. One thing is guaranteed: you’ll either draw knowing looks of admiration or poisonous looks of disapproval for your efforts. Pick it up at the App Store here or the Play Store here.

Read more: Hear John Cage and Sun Ra’s legendary experimental encounter