Mike Leghorn asked: >>I meant, if I'm watching, oh, let's say "ER", and I mute the sound, am I >>listening to Cage? David Runnion answers Mike: >Of course not. Why do folks ask questions like that about this piece. It >seems so uncomplicated to me. You're listening to Cage when you are at a >concert and the program includes 4'33". That is when you are participating >in his music, sitting respectfully and truly listening to the music of >silence, or more accurately, the music that fills silence all by itself. > >You can enjoy the silence of a muted ER but that's just you enjoying >silence, it is not Cage. I'm sorry. I still don't get it. Just because I'm physically present at a concert performance of 4'33" doesn't necessarily mean I'm participating and sitting respectfully and truely listening to the music of silence. I might be daydreaming or fidgetting, like so many people do, even at concerts with real music. While I'm sitting in front of the TV and the sound is muted, I might be thinking or Beethoven's 3rd. Mike