John Cage dissolved the distinction between musical sound and noise by treating all sounds as equally usable

In a 1937 essay, John Cage distinguished between found sounds (which he called noise) and musical sounds, giving examples like rain, radio static, and a truck at fifty miles per hour. Crucially, Cage made no distinction in terms of value — in his view all sounds have the potential to be used creatively. His aim was to capture and control elements of the sonic environment using ‘sound organisation’ to give meaning to any sound material. This philosophical move — that the environment is a potential score — directly enabled musique concrète, noise music, and field recording as compositional practice. His 1939 Imaginary Landscape #1 applied this using variable-speed turntables.

Examples

Cage (The Future of Music: Credo, 1937): ‘I believe that the use of noise to make music will continue and increase until we reach a music produced through the aid of electrical instruments which will make available for musical purposes any and all sounds that can be heard.‘

Assessment

How does Cage’s 1937 position differ from Russolo’s? Both advocate for noise in music — what philosophical distinction separates them? Apply Cage’s framework to explain why field recording is a legitimate compositional act.