While John Cage is not typically associated with the development of chaos theory, his work often incorporated elements of chance and indeterminacy, which could be seen as somewhat related to certain aspects of chaos theory.

His exposure to Indian, East Asian and Buddhist philospies resulted in Cage’s exploration of aleatoric or chance-controlled music and development of his distinctive formulas for composition. He believed in incorporating elements of randomness and unpredictability into musical composition, allowing for a more open-ended and unconventional approach to creating and experiencing music.

Cage’s most famous piece, 4′33″, exemplifies his exploration of silence and the concept of ambient sound. In this composition, the performer(s) remains silent for the entire duration of the piece, and the sounds of the environment become the “music” that the audience experiences. This concept challenged traditional notions of what constitutes music and encouraged listeners to consider the ambient sounds in their surroundings as part of the musical experience.

Cage composed a number of his works using the I Ching – an ancient Chinese deviation system, explained in this video:

His compositions were not simply randomised. The use of chance involved complex processes, each of them was composed using a unique one. He explored indeterminacy

Musa Circus – cagean concept that involved multiple musicians and groups playing simultaneously, each following different specific time periods and instructions, superimposed on each other. It created a type of cacophony that had not been heard before and challenged the present day conventions regarding playing, composing and listening to the music.