Imaginary Landscape No. 1 was created by American composer John Cage in 1939 to record constant frequency and variable frequency, large Chinese cymbals and string piano. It is also the first work in the imaginary landscape series. It is scored for four performers: two of them in control of two variable-speed phono turntables and playing frequency recordings, a muted piano, and a cymbal.

When I heard John Cage’s Imaginary Landscape No. 1 in the video, I thought the music was very novel if it was put in that era. So I went to find the whole piece of this work, which lasted about six minutes. His electronic music sounds creepy. I think it is very suitable for making background music for some horror films. After listening to this work, the chorus of this work will keep me in my ears. It’s like I’m in a very empty and dark place, and then aliens will attack.

I read John Cage’s book called silence. John Cage composed music with noise. His most famous music is 4’33 ’’, according to the score of “4:33”, the performer doesn’t need to play a sound from the beginning to the end. Generally speaking, the piano player will open and close the piano cover, wipe sweat and other actions between the movements, and during the performance of this music, all kinds of sounds heard by the audience can be considered as part of the music.

There is a saying in the concept of Buddhism that “emptiness is existence, and existence is emptiness”. This sentence is a good example in John Cage’s “4’33” works. He is really studying silence and looking for this idea. He uses no sound to let the audience know what the contrast of sound is. So I think sometimes nothing can bring you a lot of creativity. For example, before there was no Internet or computer, sound artists would create their own unique sounds, and it just like the Cirque du Soleil, which is different from the traditional circus. Cirque du Soleil does not use animals, On the contrary, Cirque du Soleil is famous for its human performance and stage effect. Although this work has many disputes, I think his work has its own creation and ideas.

When I heard 15 minutes and 30 seconds in this video, my attention was attracted by a gradually louder intro. When this work reached the loudest, I felt very nervous with the sound, just like I was watching a horror film which have background music before the horror clip. I searched the full version of this work on YouTube. This is Metastaseis by Iannis Xenakis. When I heard this work, I was very shocked. The work slowly changed from loud to climax, then decreased from the highest point to mild, then slowly rose to the top, and finally faded out. I think this work is like watching a thriller movie. I have a sense of picture after listening. When I close my eyes and listen, I seem to be in an imaginary movie scene.

Moreover, I think the ending of this work is very meaningful. I remember that this sound work is very similar to a thriller short film I saw a long time ago. The story is about a very rainy day in the countryside. A man didn’t bring an umbrella and have no means of transportation. A kind man took him in and gave him some food, The man felt very warm, but when he entered the bedroom given to him by the kind man, the furniture and smell in the bedroom were very strange and pungent. The man didn’t dare to refuse the kind man, so he stayed. In the midnight, the man was shocked by thunder. He looked at the dark place. He felt that he always felt a pair of eyes looking at him. At last the man heard someone knocking on his room door. The story ends here. So I think the structure of this story is very similar to that of Metastaseis。

Iannis Xenakis is a Greek French, composer, musician, musician and director. Xenakis took the lead in using mathematical models in music, such as the application of set theory, stochastic process and game theory, and also had an important impact on the development of electronics and music and computer music.

Every musician in the work has his own role. No two are the same. This work is very unusual. His work feels like establishing a balanced environment in chaos and regularity, which can make the listener have more comfortable senses.

This nearly one and a half hour video about the history of sound art fully describes many works of sound art from the early 20th century to the present, and also contains some ideas and interviews of sound artists.

Sound art can be traced back to the Futurist Luigi Russolo’s noise machine. Then dada and surrealist artists also tried the art of using sound. Marcel Duchamp’s Erratum Musical uses three singing notes pulled from his hat, which seems arbitrary and has an impact on John Cage’s composition. John Cage wrote the 4’33 “silent score of 4 minutes and 33 seconds in 1952.

In the 1950s and 1960s, visual artists and composers such as Bill Fontana began to use dynamic sculpture and electronic media to overlap live and pre recorded sounds to explore the surrounding space.

Since the introduction of digital technology, sound art has experienced a complete change. Artists can now create visual images based on sound, allowing viewers to control art through pressure pads, sensors and voice activation.

I heard a lot of sounds in the video, including field recording, musical instrument sound, human voice, electronic sound, etc. I felt the ideas and Inspiration of these artists for sound art, and they made efforts for this way of art. When I listen to these sounds for the second time, I can even see the pictures of artists creating these sounds in my mind. With the different periods, the sound art will have different feelings for me. Now, with the development of the Internet, more and more artists will create new sound art. I think the sound art in the future will become more thoughtful and creative.

In our world, many things cannot lack sound. Sound is like water and air to me, which is very significant.

Sound arts can be applied in many fields, such as movies, VR, games and installations, etc. So I think sound occupies a part of the power in human occupations and activities.

The Shining which directed by Stanley Kubrick is a horror movie I like. The soundtrack of this film is very scary. If I just watch the screen and don’t listen to the sound, I don’t think it’s very terrible. With the development of current technology, many films now have good soundtrack and sound effects. Today’s films have developed very well both visually and acoustically.

In addition, I think sound art is very complex and difficult to explain, but it can be a state or a medium to build a bridge between the audience and the author. I think sound art can be divided into traditional and non-traditional. The traditional is a very direct form of expression such as some music. The other non-traditional is like some artists’ installation, which are combined in sound and digital media to show the audience the uniqueness and non replicability of sound art.

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All in all, I think the sound is also related to people themselves. Maybe young and old people will hear different sound, and men and women are different. The sound can also recall memories. Just like being in a foreign land, when we hear the songs of our homeland, we may have the idea of missing. So sound art is hard to explain.