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| John Cage studied with Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg as well as Richard Buhlig and Adolph Weiss. Toured the world as composer for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Studied Zen with Daisetz Suzuki which led him to chance music in the early 1950s. Continued in the experimental American tradition of Ives and Cowell. He was a pioneer in preparing a piano, electronic music, and chance, indeterminate, or aleatoric music. He also used graphic notations -- notations that serve as non-traditional music symbols which are similar to the actual sounds they represent. In his aleatoric music, no two live performances will ever be the same. He was also a leader in the "happening" movements -- combining theatre, art, and music often in seemingly ridiculous ways to many.
Cage was highly influential, especially in Europe, since the end of World War II. His fame also resulted from his "philosophy" of music, the importance of silence and the"sounds around us" as music. Hewas also a famous mycologist -- an expert on mushrooms.
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