Some Rules and Helpful Hints for Students and Teachers by John Cage
- Find a place you trust and then, try trusting it for a while.
- (General duties as a student)
Pull everything out of your teacher. Pull everything out of your fellow students.
- (General rules as a teacher)
Pull everything out of your students.
- Consider everything an experiment
- Be self-disciplined. This means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow
them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in
a better way.
- Follow the leader. Nothing is a mistake. There is no win or fail. There is only make.
- The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It is the people who do all of the work all the time who eventually catch on to things. You can fool the fans but not the players.
- Do not try to create and analyze at the same time. They are two different processes.
- Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It is lighter than you think.
- We are breaking all the rules, even our own rules and how do we do that? By leaving
enough room for the “x” qualities. Helpful hints always be around. Come or go to
everything. Always go to class. Read everything you can get your hands on. Look at
movies carefully and often. Save everything. It may come in handy later.
John Cage
1912-1992
experimental music composer, writer, and visual artist
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