We idealise busyness to the point where it has become a modern god that we worship. But what about stillness and
But what if zero was the birth place of everything?
From the 1800s onwards many artists became fascinated with silence. The fascination with silence actually runs parallel with the industrial revolution which stretched from approximately 1760 to 1840. During and after this time the world became loud. And sadly noise has been steadily increasing ever since. Mobile phones, alarms, iPods, stereos, cars, lawn mowers, T.Vs and children’s toys are just some of the items from an inexhaustible list of noise producing gadgets. If you walk into a café the aural landscape is so complex that the only way we deal with it is to try to block it out of our field of awareness. The milk frothier, various kitchen alarms, phone notifications, coffee grinder, people, background music, heating, cooling, and traffic are all found in this tiny place.
Consequently, silence has become something that has to be deliberately persuied.
Melville wrote that
All profound things and emotions of things are preceded and attended by silence… Silence is the general consecration of the universe. Silence is the invisible laying on of the Divine Pontiff’s hands upon the world. Silence is at once the most harmless and the most awful thing in all nature. It speaks of the reserved forces of fate. Silence is the only Voice of our God.
Debussy who was born when Melville was middle aged also had profound insights about silence. Debussy believed that “music was the silence between the notes.”
John Cage stretched our understanding of silence to its limits eventually concluding that silence doesn’t exist. He discovered that even if you are placed in a room who’s sole purpose is to be completely silent you will not find silence. Instead you will hear the ringing of your own nervous system and all the varying vibrations of your body. Cage reflected this disturbing discovery in his composition 4’33 which invites the audience to listen to ‘silent’ musicians. It is only through such intense listening that you become aware of the illusion of silence.
Music however, still continues to be birthed out of philosophical silence.
The noise of the industrial revolution can perhaps be seen as today’s equivalent to busyness. Noise and busyness actually have a lot in common. Our busy lives have perhaps come to reflect our noisy environments. Today, we frequently become human doings, forgetting that we are
What if the next great artistic musings of our time will be about stillness. I believe that stillness and silence have a lot in common. The parallels that run between them are so strong its like they are identical twins. Silence does not exist because it is something that has to be experienced by a living human being. As soon as you place a human being in an environment the life of their bodies creates sound. Total and complete silence is death, which cannot be heard.
Likewise, stillness is an experience but total and complete stillness is death. Breathing and a
Maybe true creativity is birthed out of a place of ‘philosophical’ stillness and silence. [Realising that literal or absolute stillness and silence is not possible.]
Silence and stillness are like the number zero. Zero is the foundation of every other number. It is the only entity that is simultaneously nothing and something. Zero is also a perfect circle with no beginning and ending. It is strong and complete. Add zero after any other number and it is multiplied by 10. (See Victor Wooten’s ‘A Music Lesson for further exploration of the Z
In order to create you need to start from a place of zero. As a composer or musician you retreat into a space that for you is silent and sacred. It is in this space that you have to stop doing in order to start creating.
Nothing, like silence, is an illusion. Even when we are sitting still doing nothing we are still doing something. But we need this place of stillness and silence in order to be a musician. For even musicians can get so caught up in the busyness of doing that they forget about the very thing they
When was the last time you practised making music? Musicians get so caught up in practising instruments that they forget to practice music. We are told as flautists that we need to spend at least 40 minutes a day working on fingering technique. Technique while necessary is not music. Next, we spend an hour working on tone. This is then followed by breathing exercises, double
To practice music you need to stop being busy doing musical things and spend time engulfed in the realm of stillness and silence that is the birth place for music.
Richard Rohr writes that “Silence [and stillness] is the necessary space around things that allows them to develop and flourish without pushing.” And ancient biblical texts declare that a lady called Martha was distracted with all her preparations (Luke 10:40). Distracted implies that she is missing out on something because she is too busy doing. Preparations insinuates she was distracted doing all the ‘right’ things.
Perhaps one of the hardest lessons to learn and practice is that music requires active stillness and silence.
Further Reading
Today marks a significant milestone in Emusiv’s journey as they release a double track, “The Other Side” and “Lost Virges Town,” recorded live at their
Date: August 20th, 2023 Time: 2:00 PM Location: Upwey High School Venue: DRMC Building F Parking: Off Marchant Ave The sweet sounds of music are
Thanks for watching the video :) There is a bit of a story behind this piece. I have made it for Rae the mum of
Composer, Flautist, Educator, Christian, Thinker.
