The Steel Guitar Forum

Just curious to see if anyone has tabbed out 4'33", by John Cage.

~Lee

LOL. The original piano piece, or the orchestrated version.

The original piano piece would be fine. It would take way too much work to tab the orchestrated version.

It should be pretty easy to perform on a simple 6-string lap steel guitar.

~Lee

All kidding aside, Cage was a huge influence on my life. I met him a number of times, saw him perform many times. and weeks before he died, I ran into him on the street and invited him to hear I piece I had written in his honor when I was in grad school. He came. weeks later he was dead. His philosophy of music was probably the most meaningful touchstone of my life.

Wonderful story, Bill. Thanks for sharing it.

I know of two members of this Forum who may have performed this piece.

~Lee

I was actually just listening to this when I stumbled on this post! What are the odds?

In college, my music teacher had done his PhD dissertation on Cage's Notation. He was good friends with Cage and had him come to the school where he conducted a group of us on a piece based on nature drawings of Thoreau.

Everyone got a different piece of a drawing to interpret. My section called for a long gliss . Cage was specifically looking for it and called it out when he didn't hear me doing it in rehearsal.

Not a day goes by I don't think about that and wish I had a pedal steel back then to knock him back a bit.

What is the pedal steel after all but a prepared piano for guitar.

There was a store in Chicago selling T-shirts with the score for 4'33" on the front. I should have bought one when I saw it.

I understand that Simon and Garfunkle sampled that Cage piece for their song....."The Sound of Silence"

For those interested in the history of the piece, it is written in three parts and was premiered on the piano. The lid of the piano was closed and opened to mark the beginning and end of each section.

And it never sounds the same way twice.

That’s hilarious, Jim!

~Lee