Test yourself: Can you tell the difference between music and noise? - Hanako Sawada

翻译人员: Gia Hwang 校对人员: Carol Wang

In 1960, American composer John Cage went on national television

1960 年，美国作曲家约翰·凯奇

在全国电视上分享他的最新作品。

to share his latest work.

But rather than employing traditional instruments,

不过，凯奇并未使用传统乐器，

Cage appeared surrounded by household clutter,

而是周围摆满了家居用品，

including a bathtub, ice cubes, a toy fish, a pressure cooker,

包括浴缸、

冰块、

玩具鱼、

压力锅、

a rubber duck, and several radios.

橡皮鸭

和几台收音机。

Armed with these tools and a stopwatch, he performed “Water Walk,”

就用这些工具和秒表, 他表演了《水与行走》，

setting off a series of sounds with a serious expression

带着严肃的表情，

以惊人的精确度发出了一系列的声音。

and incredible precision.

Some viewers found the performance hysterical,

有的观众认为表演极为滑稽，

while others thought it was completely absurd.

而其他人则认为荒谬至极。

But most people watching likely shared the same question:

但大多数观众可能问同样的问题:

is this even music?

这能算音乐吗？

This question is harder to answer than you might think.

这个问题比你想象的更难回答。

What we determine as music often depends on our expectations.

我们对音乐的定义 往往取决于我们的期望。

For example, imagine you’re in a jazz club listening

例如，假设你在爵士乐俱乐部

to the rhythmic honking of horns.

聆听有节奏的喇叭声，

Most people would agree that this is music.

大多数人会同意这是音乐；

But if you were on the highway hearing the same thing, many would call it noise.

但若在高速路上听到同样喇叭声， 很多人会称之为噪音。

After all, car horns aren’t instruments

毕竟汽车喇叭并非乐器，

and these drivers aren’t musicians... right?

这些司机也不是音乐家，对吧？

Expectations like these influence how we categorize everything we hear.

类似的期望，会影响 我们对听到的声音进行分类。

We typically think something sounds more musical

我们通常认为，如果使用 可识别的音乐形式结构，

if it uses a recognizable structure or popular sounds

即按众所周知的模式排列的流行声音，

arranged in well-known patterns.

则听起来更具音乐性。

And even within the realm of music,

即使在音乐领域，

we expect certain genres to use specific instruments and harmonies.

我们也期望某些音乐类型演奏 使用特定的乐器与和声。

These expectations are based on existing musical traditions,

这些期望基于现有音乐传统，

but those traditions aren't set in stone.

但这些传统并非一成不变，

They vary across different cultures and time periods.

在不同的文化和时期会有所不同。

And in the early 20th century,

二十世纪初，

when many artists were pushing the boundaries of their fields,

当许多艺术家在挑战各自领域的极限时，

John Cage wanted to discover what new kinds of music might exist

约翰·凯奇却想探索这些限制之外

beyond those constraints.

可能存在的新型音乐。

He began pioneering new instruments that blurred the lines

他开始开拓

模糊艺术与日常生活间界限的新乐器，

between art and everyday life,

and used surprising objects to reinvent existing instruments.

并用意想不到的物品来重塑现有乐器。

He also explored new ways for music to mingle with other art forms.

他还探索了音乐与其他 艺术形式融合的新方法。

He and his creative and romantic partner, Merce Cunningham,

梅斯·坎宁安是他的创意伙伴和恋人，

held recitals where Cage’s music and Cunningham’s choreography

在俩人共同表演之前,

凯奇的音乐和坎宁安的编舞分别创作。

would be created independently before being performed together.

But whatever his approach,

但无论他的做法如何，

Cage gleefully dared listeners to question the boundaries between music and noise,

凯奇乐此不疲地让听众质疑 音乐与噪音之间的界限，

as well as sound and silence.

以及声音和无声的界限。

Perhaps the best example is one of Cage’s most famous compositions—

凯奇最著名的作品之一《4′33″》 也许是最好的例子——

a solo piano piece consisting of nothing but musical rests

这首钢琴独奏曲

仅包含四分三十三秒的休止符。

for four minutes and 33 seconds.

This wasn’t intended as a prank, but rather, as a question.

这不是恶作剧，更像一个问题：

Could the opening and closing of a piano lid be music?

开合钢琴盖的声音能算音乐吗?

What about the click of a stopwatch?

那秒表的“嗒嗒”声、

The rustling, and perhaps even the complaining, of a crowd?

人群的“沙沙”声、 甚至抱怨声，算音乐吗？

Like the white canvases of his painting peers,

就像他绘画同行们的白色画布一样，

Cage asked the audience to question their expectations about what music was.

凯奇要求观众质疑对音乐的期望。

And while the piece didn’t evoke the drama of some traditional compositions,

该曲虽未产生传统曲目那样的戏剧性，

it certainly elicited a strong emotional response.

但无疑引起了强烈的情感反馈。

Cage’s work frequently prioritized these spontaneous, ephemeral experiences

凯奇的作品常优先考虑 这些偶发、短暂的体验，

over precise, predictable performances.

而非精确、可预测的表演。

He even developed processes that left some compositional decisions up to chance.

他甚至还开发了“机遇”过程， 让一些作曲选择听天由命。

One of his favorite such systems was the I Ching,

他最喜欢的类似体系之一是《易经》，

an ancient Chinese divination text.

一部中国古代的占卜书籍。

Using just a handful of coins,

只需使用少量硬币，

the I Ching allows readers to produce a pattern of lines

《易经》就能让读者绘制出线条图案，

which can be interpreted to answer questions and offer fortunes.

可以用来回答问题和占卜。

But Cage adapted these patterns into a series of tables

但凯奇将这些图案改编成一系列表格，

that generated different musical durations, tempos, and dynamics.

以生成不同的音符时长、速度和强弱。

Eventually, he even used early computers to help produce these random parameters.

最后，他甚至使用早期的计算机 来帮助生成这些随机参数。

For some pieces, Cage went even further,

在一些作品中，凯奇甚至更进一步，

offering musicians incomplete compositions notated with broad instructions,

为音乐家们提供了 附有大致说明的不完整作品，

allowing them to compose on the fly with the help of his guidelines.

让他们在其指导下随心所欲地创作。

Some composers rejected Cage's seemingly careless approach.

一些作曲家反对凯奇这种 看似漫不经心的做法，

They believed it was the composer’s job to organize sound and time

他们认为，作曲家的职责

是为特定而有意的目的组织音符和时长。

for a specific, intentional purpose.

After all, if these strange compositions were music,

毕竟，如果这些奇怪的作品是音乐，

then where do we draw the line?

那我们如何界定音乐呢？

But like a bold explorer, Cage didn't want to be bound by restrictions,

但就像大胆的探险家，凯奇不想被束缚。

and he certainly didn't want to follow old rules.

他当然不想墨守成规。

He dedicated himself to shattering our expectations,

他致力于打破我们的期望，

creating a series of once in a lifetime experiences

创造了一系列千载难逢的体验，

that continue encouraging musicians and audiences

不断鼓励音乐家和观众

to embrace the unexpected.

去拥抱意外。