chance music
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of chance music
First recorded in 1960–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For example, it had nothing to do with the chance music of John Cage or the meticulously plotted complications of Milton Babbitt and Elliott Carter, the American heroes of ’70s modernism.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026
Well, John Cage thought that, and then you have the Cageian idea of chance music, which is cool, and Mozart, also cool.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 4, 2015
In aleatoric, or chance, music, on the other hand, some elements of the score are more spontaneous.
From New York Times • Jan. 30, 2011
Lutoslawski was inspired to use aleatoric techniques after listening to scores by John Cage, a major proponent of chance music.
From New York Times • Jan. 30, 2011
I saw carmagnoles in which men and women, seized by a wild impulse, whirled along the street in a frantic dance to any chance music, compelling every bystander to join.
From Memoirs by Leland, Charles Godfrey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
