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John Cage and Van Meter Ames: Zen Buddhism, Friendship, and Cincinnati

Yang, Serena
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1378195094

Abstract Details

, M.M., University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music: Music History.
This thesis examines the previously undocumented friendship between John Cage and Van Meter Ames from 1957 to 1985 and Cage’s residency at the University of Cincinnati (UC) from January to May 1967. It considers Zen Buddhism as the framework of their friendship, and the residency as evidence of Cage’s implementation of his 1960s philosophy. Starting in 1957, Cage and Ames explored their common interest in Zen and social philosophies through extensive correspondence. This exchange added to the composer’s knowledge of Zen and Western philosophies, specifically pragmatism. Cage’s five-month tenure as composer-in-residence at UC enabled the two friends to be in close proximity and proved to be the highlight of their relationship. I suggest that this friendship and Ames’s publications contributed to Cage’s understanding of Zen during the 1960s and the development of his philosophy from this period. In the 1960s Cage’s spiritual belief diverged from his study of Zen with Daisetz T. Suzuki in the 1950s and was similar to Ames’s philosophic outlook. Cage and Ames both sought to bridge Western and Eastern cultures, assimilate Chinese philosophy, and modify Zen philosophy for modern society by adopting Thoreau’s humanistic and social theories, and relating pragmatism to their ideal social model. This study documents the friendship between Ames and Cage, and Cage’s residency at UC through programs, newspaper and magazine articles, correspondence, and Ames’s 1967 diary. It also examines Ames’s articles and monograph Zen and American Thought (1962), and unpublished typescript “A Book of Changes” (1967–71), which demonstrates Ames’s insight of the composer’s music, personality, and aesthetics. Cage implemented his 1960s philosophy throughout his residency at UC. In a broader view, the residency realized part of his personal global planning that was to fulfill Marshall McLuhan’s concept of a global village, through his visiting appointments at various institutions of higher learning. I argue that Cage and Ames’s friendship and the philosopher’s writings on Zen and American philosophy influenced the formation of the composer’s amalgamated philosophy of the 1960s.
bruce mcclung, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Jeongwon Joe, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Allen Otte, M.M. (Committee Member)
110 p.
Music
John Cage; Van Meter Ames; Zen Buddhism; Cincinnati; composer-in-residence; Pragmatism

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Yang, S. (n.d.). John Cage and Van Meter Ames: Zen Buddhism, Friendship, and Cincinnati [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1378195094

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Yang, Serena. John Cage and Van Meter Ames: Zen Buddhism, Friendship, and Cincinnati. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1378195094.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Yang, Serena. "John Cage and Van Meter Ames: Zen Buddhism, Friendship, and Cincinnati." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati. Accessed APRIL 27, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1378195094

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1378195094
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