John Cage: Some Rules for Students and Teachers

RULE ONE:  Find a place you trust,  and then,  try trusting it for awhile.

RULE TWO: (General Duties as a Student)
Pull everything out of your teacher.
Pull everything out of your fellow students.

RULE THREE: (General Duties as a Teacher)
Pull everything out of your students.

RULE FOUR: Consider everything an experiment.

RULE FIVE: Be Self Disciplined. 
This means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them.
To be disciplined is to follow in a good way.
To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.

RULE SIX: Follow the leader. Nothing is a mistake.
There is no win and no fail. There is only make.

RULE SEVEN: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something.
It is the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.
You can fool the fans–but not the players.

RULE EIGHT: Do not try to create and analyze at the same time.
The are different processes.

RULE NINE: Be happy whenever you can manage it.
Enjoy yourself. It is lighter than you think.

RULE TEN: We are breaking all the rules.
Even our own rules, and how do we do that?
By leaving plenty of room for “X” quantities.

HELPFUL HINTS:
Always Be Around.
Come or go to everything.
Always go to classes.
Read everything you can get your hands on.
Look at movies carefully and often.
SAVE EVERYTHING. It may come in handy later.

Photo: My Photos
Words: John Cage via