John Cage eavesdropped on the strange noises coming from his own imagination. Geoff Smith and Nicola Walker Smith eavesdrop on the wise words emanating from the man himself, in one of the final interviews of his trailblazing life and the last in MT's exclusive series on modern American composers.

An Appreciation

John Cage - The life & the legacy

Says it all really

Real World

Real World music

What is 'New Age' music? Who plays it, and why is it apparently so popular? Our resident musicologist Mark Prendergast traces its development back to the work of 'new music' composers Arnold Schoenberg and Erik Satie.

An Appreciation

John Cage - The life & the legacy

Part 1 looks at the early growth of this vitally important area of music today.

Brian Eno and the studio

Books

Eddie Cochran-White dispels those post-summertime blues with some cherished memories of recent good reads.

Electronics Into Light

Karlheinz Stockhausen has had a profound influence on modern music from the 1950s onwards, and pioneered the use of electronics to create genuinely new music. Mark J. Prendergast reviews his career.

Ever since the invention of the wax cylinder, listening to recorded music has been a passive experience; now CDs are capable of holding MIDI and other performance data. Bob O'Donnell looks at the changing face of music.

BMF REPORT

The excessive heat in London's Olympia gave the latest hi-tech gear a run in the "who's hottest" stakes at this year's British Music Fair. Simon Trask sweats it out.

New technology has already brought the music industries of East and West closer together, but how has that affected the music itself, and what will happen as the two cultures get closer still? Gary Larson gives his viewpoint.

Catch a glimpse of what goes through the mind of a Newcastle musician commissioned to provide a suitable soundtrack for an animated film whose subject matter revolves around a woman living alone in a high-rise block of flats. John Goodenough relates his experiences.

Into the Seventies

The question "can computers write music" has never been more important than it is in 1989; what is an algorithmic composition program, and will it ever replace the human composer? Ian Waugh composes himself.

Sydney Music Conservatorium

Music technology Australian style. To prove that there's more to the Australian music scene than the Fairlight, Jonathan Puckeridge pays a visit to the Sydney Music Conservatorium.

A six page feature that shows you how to make music with the aid of the BBC Micro

What the hell's a MIDI Performance System? David Mellor does his level best to explain.

Record label spotlight on the innovatory people who bring you Brian Eno and numerous others.

A look at Newcastle’s ‘open access' electro-music studio.

Brian Eno

Standing at one of the most exciting crossroads in musical history we look at the pros and cons of electronic music.

An overview

Mark Prendergast presents a general overview of record labels, artists, and recordings that make up the exciting area of new electronic and experimental music in the late 1980s.