i am going through some serious “return to ny madness”. this is one way i keep it together.

john cage’s 4′ 33″

the commentary after is rather silly, but the piece is everything.

When I was 8 or 9, playing piano in my small town, my teacher was impressed with my rendition of the “little cabellero”. I had managed to move the tempo from a mere trot to a full speed gallop, eventually reaching derby speed.

Blair Smith, my teacher, told me

“Music is the space between the notes.”

Later, I found out that this most salient piece of advice was actually a quote from Claude Debussy

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