Stuart Slater

Independent musicology researcher exploring the contemporary relevance of John Cage and silence in music
United Kingdom °1970
research interests: contemporary explorations of John Cage, reclaiming John Cage as a musicological resource, silence as musical episteme
affiliation: Canterbury Christ Church University
en

Stuart Slater is a published author, global music examiner, music educator, consultant, and performing musician. As an independent musicology researcher, Stuart is currently investigating contemporary applications of John Cage’s work and praxis, focusing on the perspective of silence as an extended episteme within music, a domain containing rich data suitable for extraction and analysis. The year 2027 marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of Cage’s seminal silent work 4’33”, and Stuart’s research seeks to leverage the anticipated spotlight on this piece through articles that explore its historical significance, contemporary relevance, and ongoing implications as a musicological resource. His reprised PhD study will examine his long-held assertion that Cage remains both relevant and underutilised within the field of musicology. This work will contribute to Stuart’s growing portfolio of repurposed Cage musical works and investigate the influence of Cage’s agency on urgent global issues, applying these theoretical frameworks to societal contexts and identifying innovative methods of dissemination.

research

research expositions

  • From Silence to Form: An Exposition of Ambient Sound Reontologized through Post-Cagean Analysis (2025) author(s): Stuart Slater published in: Research Catalogue
    Abstract This exposition investigates musically framed silence by extracting and analyzing auditory data and proposing new analytical strategies to deepen engagement with silence as a compositional element. It reontologizes ambient sound as capable of bearing musical and narrative significance. The study centres on Cageance (accessible at https://cageance.webflow.io)¹, the author’s web-based international collaboration extending John Cage’s 4′33″, exploring how chance-generated environmental sound may function ecologically, musically, and narratively. Using a Cageance performance recorded in Portugal as a case study, the research applies a multimodal analytical framework combining Schaferian soundscape theory, conventional musical analysis (including Schenkerian reduction), and dramatic analysis. Visual mapping methods classify sounds into soundmarks, signals, keynotes, and ecological categories (biophony, geophony, anthrophony), while revealing emergent musical and dramaturgical properties within the soundscape. The study proposes new notational and analytical approaches for non-composed sound, positioning silence not as absence, but as a generative site for compositional and narrative inquiry. These findings contribute to ongoing discourse in sound studies, ecological musicology, and practice-as-research methodologies. ¹ The Cageance platform functions best on tablet or desktop devices; headphones are recommended.
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