New School for Social Research - 1919-

A group of scholars who believe that their academic freedom has been curtailed at other schools decide to form a "free school" for adults. Among these pioneers was John Dewey.

In 1930, the school moves to a more permanent location in Greenwich Village. The new structure is designed by Joseph Urban and is in the International Style of Architecture. The muralist José Clemente Orozco does a mural in the new building.

People who taught at the school over the years include:

Students who studied there include:

John Cage's Class in Experimental Music

From 1956 to 1960 John Cage was a lecturer there. His Experimental Music Class was taught from 1958-1960. In this class he taught the principles of Indeterminate music.

Besides the students, Cage asked performance poets and artists who were doing work which he found interesting to participate in the classes.

People who took part in the Experimental Music class from Cage include:

Several of them continued the course at Richard Maxfield's house as an electronic music course after the Cage course had ended. La Monte Young came to New York from California to enroll in it as part of his graduate studies. Also, Terry Riley, Terry Jennings, and Dennis Johnson participated in the course, and together the originated that which eventually became known as minimalist music.

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Sources: Friedman, Ken, Editor, "The Fluxus Reader", John Wiley and Sons, West Sussex, 1998. http://www.newschool.edu/intro/history/ Hendricks, Jon, "Fluxus Codex", Harry N. Abrams, NY, 1995. Last Updated 04.09.04