There's a fine line between genius and lazy ass

Today in my Introduction to American Music class, we learned about experimental music. The first piece we discussed and listened to was interesting and pretty cool because it was played on the piano, but not the keys, just the strings. Then my professor went on to mention another composer and told us we all could play his song. To play the song, one sits at the piano, then does nothing. After a certain time interval, the player turns the page to mark the second movement, but continues to play nothing. Then there's a third movement where the same thing happens. The idea is that the "music" are all the sounds that you hear around you in the theater. (Title: 4'33" Click here for Wikipedia link). 

Really?

Really, John Cage, you think you can get away with that?

Obviously, it is not without controversy about whether it actually is or is not music, but I think it is just ridiculous. I can see how you could appreciate the sounds of things like birds chirping, children laughing, or even the bustle of a city. But even those are still just noises.

I also think it's unfair. If he wanted people to appreciate the noises around them, he should have pointed that out. Because instead of listening to the theater sounds, they probably had so much internal noise, in their heads, because they would be like, "Hey, man, play the fucking piano already!"