Experimental music is a term introduced by composer John Cage in 1955. Cage defined "an experimental action is one the outcome of which is unforeseen" and he was specifically interested in completed works that performed an unpredictable action (Cage 1973, 39, quoted and so interpreted in Mauceri 1997, 197). There is an overlap with avant-garde music. David Cope describes experimental music as that, "which represents a refusal to accept the status quo" (Cope, 1997, p. 222) "Experimental music" is therefore by definition completely outside all established genres and classifications. Michael Nyman (1974) uses the term "experimental" (without reference to "classical" or any other qualification) to describe the work of American modernist composers (John Cage, Christian Wolff, Earle Brown, Meredith Monk, Malcolm Goldstein, Morton Feldman, Terry Riley, La Monte Young, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, etc.) as opposed to the European avant-garde at the time (Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, Iannis Xenakis). The "experiment" in this case is not whether a piece succeeds or fails, but is in the fact that the outcome of the piece is uncertain or unforeseeable (Cage 1961, 13). [ - ]

Experimental music is a term introduced by composer John Cage in 1955. Cage defined "an... [ + ]