From 1934 to 1937, John Cage studied composition with Arnold
Schoenberg in California. Upon his arrival in New York in 1942,
he abandoned dodecaphony to develop his own compositional
techniques inspired by Asian philosophy (Taoism, Zen Buddhism)
and based on indeterminacy (chance). In the late 1940’s, Cage
explored the acoustic possibilities of what he called the
prepared piano (a piano that has had its sound altered by
placing objects (preparations) between or on the strings.) In
the 1950’s, he participated in the summer program at Black
Mountain College (Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.) and taught at
the New School for Social Research (New York, N.Y., U.S.). It
was during this period that he began a multi-year collaboration
with the musician and composer David Tudor. In the 1960’s Cage
frequently integrated electronic sounds, ambient noises, and
random fragments of radio broadcasts in his compositions. Works
from this period, often created with representatives of other
disciplines, such as Merce Cunningham