Silence and Truth

Arts John Cage's 4'33" and the Concept of Brutal Honesty John Cage's is a composer known for his experimental work. It is a work that is presented in three movements, for any combination of instruments, with the interpretation usually being a perception of silence. Throughout the work the musicians do not play their instruments. This is a challenging piece of music, especially when the composer described this work, with it absence of musical content, as his most important work.

This creates a challenge to the listener, who may at first feel unsettled, as the work is an overt challenge to concepts of sound and music. The unsettled or uncomfortable feelings that may manifest can hinder an interpretation of the piece. The audience sit may sit in an uncomfortable silence, as social convention dictates the audience should remain silent during a performance.

However, the lack of melodic or rhythmic content leads the mind to wonder, and sounds start to emerge, the shuffling of feet as audience members shift position, the odd cough of clearing of a throat, and if looking around there may also be private looks passing between couples indicating discomfort or impatient at the apparent lack of progress of the performance while they wait for it to end. Interpreting the work is the greatest challenge.

It helps to know that Cage believed the piece was not one of silence, but it was a piece during which the music was made up of the sound of the environment. Arguably, this challenges the traditional concept of music and the role played by silence. Music has been conceived as the presentation of melodic, or at least tonal, sound with some type of rhythmic order. When audiences perceived silence Cage himself said the audience did not understand it, as there were many accidental sounds.

Even if one does not understand this before listing to the piece, if the piece is listened to with the same attention traditionally paid to a more overtly musical piece, the noises which are present start to become obvious. However, whether one knows or does not know the views of Cage on the lack of instrumentation, there are still challenges on interpreting a piece of music that is inherently different each time it is heard.

Question 2 The term 'brutal honesty' appears to indicate that when practicing brutal honesty there will be some form of vicious, violent, or cruel honesty is about to take place. The term does not usually refer to a physical form of brutality, but to a psychological brutality. In a theoretical sense brutal honesty may refer to a very fundamental form of honesty, where there is nothing with held, and there is full disclosure, even if the disclosure causes bad feelings, discomfort, upset, or results in harm.

Brutal honesty, where there is total disclosure may be needed in many different types of scenarios, for example, a woman giving evidence in a rape trial, or a doctor giving a patient news that they have a terminal condition. However, while the term brutal attached to the term honesty may appear to undermine the argument that brutal honesty can be undertaken in a sensitive and caring way, with tact diplomacy. For example, the doctor giving a patient news about a terminal illness will need to.