John Cage is a modern American composer who is probably the most controversial musician who ever lived. Born in 1912 in Los Angeles, California, no one, not even Cage himself, thought he would become a composer. But he had the desire to create at a young age. He used these desires to later make some of the most revolutionary music of the century. But how did Cage start writing music? What's so revolutionary about his music? Cage was born into an Episcopal family and wanted to become a minister when he was young. His father was an eccentric inventor of objects that seemed ridiculous and, frankly, useless. But Cage always admired him, and his father once told him, "If someone says you can't, that shows you what to do." (1) Cage describes his mother as a woman with “a sense of society” (1) but also goes on to say that “she was never happy.” She was a very critical and demanding woman, but her father said she was always right. Cage took piano lessons as a boy and went to Pomona College when he was old enough. An incident that occurred in his second year completely changed his life. One day he walked into the library and saw all the students reading the same textbook. Cage decided to rebel and chose the first book written by an author whose name began with Z. He subsequently got the highest grade in the entire class and, convinced that the school was not being run properly, left university and went to Europe. . It was there that his work as a musician truly began. For the rest of his life, Cage created music. For a few years he again took piano lessons from various composers, but after a while he gave up because he had no sense of harmony. It was at this point in his career that he was drawn to percussion instruments... middle of the paper... and his nervous system was firing and the one with the lowest pitch was his blood circulating. The awareness of the impossibility of silence led Cage to compose his most famous piece, 4' 33”, in which the musician sits at the piano in silence, occasionally lifting and closing the lid while looking at a timer. Cage said after his experience in the anechoic chamber: “Until death there will be sounds. And they will continue after my death. There is no need to fear for the future of music." (1)Works Cited:1. Gabbia, Giovanni. "John Cage: An Autobiographical Statement". 1990. The John Cage website. April 2014. Web. http://johncage.org/autobiographic_statement.html 2. “The World Encyclopedia of Books.” World Book, Inc., 1991. Print. April 2014.3. “Biography of John Cage”. 2014. Biographical Base Website. April 2014. Web.http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Cage_John.html