The Role of Silence
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: audio branding is “the intentional use of music, sound, voice and silence to create a connection between people and organizations.” It’s my stock definition.
Oddly, one of those words never fully resonates with me (and I suspect with others), no matter how often I say it: music, sound, voice…and…silence. Like the runt of the litter, silence usually takes a backseat to its bigger, splashier, sexier siblings.
Visual design has “make the logo bigger;” audio has “more cowbell.” Visual design goes bold, italic, beveled. Audio goes to eleven. And silence…well, silence sits there nicely with its mouth closed.
But there’s more to silence than that. I was reminded of that recently when I came across a WSJ.com writeup of John Cage’s 4′33″ — a revolutionary four minutes and thirty-three seconds of “performance silence.” And I think it’s worth sharing, at least in part. Peter Gutman writes:
4′33″ is often described as a “silent” piece, but it isn’t at all. It’s true that no music comes from the stage as concertgoers expect, but there’s plenty of sound, albeit from unconventional sources. The audience soon becomes aware of immersion in a universe of audio sensation from the mundane to the profound — shifting in seats, air conditioning, passing traffic, one’s own heartbeat. Associations arise. Memories flow. 4′33″ is deeply personal, as no two people will ever experience it the same way.
Obligatory YouTube video:
Spellbinding. And frustrating as well. While I’m tempted to call BS on that video and on the entire performance (talk about white space, that was an entire white mural), it’s important to remember that this is not about what the performance is as much as what it does. And what it does is force you to think in new ways about silence as a concept, rather than a lack of sound.
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Miles Davis (I think… or maybe John Coltrane?) said it’s not about the notes they play, but about the silence between the notes.
I was recently thinking about John Cage’s 4′ 33″… I’ve got a presentation coming up, and not yet set on everything I’m going to discuss. One idea I’d come up with was to start by performing this piece myself, or playing a recording of it, just to see what the audience would do. So now I have the video to accompany the presentation. Thanks!
One of the more interesting music disputes I’ve ever heard of came out of another musician, Mike Batt, writing a piece of music and entitling it “A Minute of Silence”.
As a tribute to Cage he gave him co-writing credit - which resulted in Mr Batt promptly being sued for copyright infringement.
Stephen: you gots cahones — way to go!
Rob: great story. I’d love to hear more about that suit — how do you protect silence, anyway?
All: a relevant followup has been making its way ’round the internets this week…over at the NYT: “The Concerts Found Onstage While Everyone Else Takes a Break“…
For seven years, Christopher DeLaurenti went to orchestral concerts wired, wearing a leather vest with microphones nestled in the shoulders and cables running down the back. Come intermission, when the audience wandered out, Mr. DeLaurenti perked up.
He made his way toward the stage. With his MiniDisc recorder running, he secretly captured the random sounds that followed: woodwind noodles, honks of oboe reeds, the murmur of voices, the scraping of chairs.
For Mr. DeLaurenti, 39, a Seattle-based “sound artist” and composer, the noises were art. Now, out of more than 50 hours of recording, he has compiled a CD of greatest hits. It is called “Favorite Intermissions: Music Before and Between Beethoven, Stravinsky, Holst,” the latest entry in humankind’s search for art in unexpected nooks.