ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to understand John Cage thought and composition. Simultaneity and equality of significance of all sounds is the prerequisite for sounds being able to be themselves, to interpenetrate and not to obstruct each other. In order to liberate sounds and noises from contextualization, that is from subjective organizing forces and the ego's intentions, John Cage makes use of chance, which enables him to 'renounce intention', to exclude it, to create a music 'without intention'. John Cage's name is indelibly linked with the prepared piano. The advantage of the prepared piano over a percussion ensemble is the saving in space and possibility of changing the sound quality quickly. To liberate sounds from the results that bind them together is to liberate them into unrelatedness, and that means liberation from harmony, the fundamental sense-creating category of western music. In John Cage terminology and music it is necessary to distinguish between chance and indeterminacy.
