Stephen E. Bacher asks:

>First: I see two arguments being propounded in favor of 4'33" being
>music: one, the mathematical one, in that music is a sequence of zero or
>more notes and zero or more rests in any order, and therefore a sequence
>of zero notes and (zero? one? three?) rests falls under that definition;
>
>two, the piece is intended to render the environmental/incidental "music"
>of the surroundings to the listener.

Or possibly both.  I lean to the proposition that organization makes music.
Random "noise" can be part of that music, so long as it is organized (even
loosely organized) into the work's context.  In other words, a "dial tone"
normally encountered isn't music.  The dial tone in Steely Dan's "Rikki
Don't Lose That Number" is.

>Well, pick one or the other.  Here's a question: Are the rests in
>Beethoven's Fifth Symphony placed there for the purpose of letting the
>audience hear the coughing and snuff-box-rattling in the concert hall?

Why don't you ask Beethoven?

Steve Schwartz