Silence Is Golden

Silence is Golden

I borrowed the title from the ever so popular adage. But now, I will alter it to suit our discussion topic. My modification will be "Silence is Music".

Truly indeed, silence is music. There are 2 types of musical silence.

1) Unplayed silence
2) Played silence


Unplayed silence

Unplayed silence is the kind of silence which exist before the music begins and after the music ends. In other words, this type of silence is not notated in the scored.

It is also the type of silence which exist between movements of a piece of music, between variations of a piece, between 2 or more piece which are to be played consecutively and between the different sections or scenes within a single piece of music.

However, this type of silence must be well timed. Too long in silence can distort the flow of the music. There will be a kind of discontinuity or a sense of displacement. This is where musical awareness and musicality is applied to achieve the right timing to maximise the true potential of beauty of music.


Played silence.

Played silence are silence that exist anywhere between the 1st to the last note of the music.

This type of silence are notated with rests written in the music.

Once a composer wrote a piece of music for piano to bring home this point by means of exaggeration. The whole music is made up of rests. He went up on stage, sat the piano, placed his hands on the keyboard, and not played a single note during the entire duration of the the piece, say, about 3 minutes (can't remember the exact timing). When the 3 minutes is up, he stood up, bow to the audiences and left the stage!!!

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Silence can create anticipation and gives time for assimilation and time for the meaning of the music to sink in. It also helps build up tension, climaxes and further intensifies the music. That is why composers use rest so silence can be played.

Rest also provides time for breathing and yes, rest.

The silence spent before the piece of music begins, gives musician the time to,

think, prepare and play - thus helping them to start the music confidently with the appropriate mood and stance. Otherwise, it will result in a hasty and shaky start and the musician will not have time to engage into the emotions and mood of the music. On the other extreme, too long a time spent in this peaceful silence will create a sluggish and not confident performance.

I had the blessed opportunity to observe how Hannu Lintu (conductor, google him), just the other day, directed the orchestra and the audiences into this unplayed silence at the end of the Rautavaara's Cantus Articus, Concerto for Birds and Orchestra.

After the last note was executed, he slowly dropped his hands from above his head to the sides of his thighs, as if to allow the final note (which is no more audible) to reverberate throughout the concert hall and saturate our senses and giving time for the music to sink in. This brief but intense moment of silence recapitulates whatever we have heard since the beginning of the music, helping us to draw the right conclusions.

The audiences held back their applause and when the silence is over, all clapped at the same time as if we could read each other's and Mr. Lintu's mind.

This unity was also made possible because of Lintu's effectiveness in his communication via his musical prowess.

The same effects can be found in played silence too.

How can we utilise this silence in liturgical or sacred music? Well, the silence in-between the Kyrie and Gloria is one example. Or transition from certain prayers to hymns and vice versa. And many more.

The Christian faith appreciates silence. The silence we have during the intercessory prayer, moments before offertory, after communion and the infamous 15 minute silence before mass after the alter candle is lit. *This 15 minute silence is an unplayed silence of the mass, to help draw the congregation to immerse fully in self surrender in the liturgy - the true worship of God which is self surrender, to simply give ourselves over to being transformed by God Himself.

If we look closely into the life of Christ, we can see how the Good Shepherd enjoys peace and quite. After every sermon or miracle wonder performed, he walks away from the hustle of life, up on the hills/mountains/other side of the lake to commune with His Father, in silence.

This Christological view of our faith shows us how important silence is. There is so much communication that takes place in the moment of silence. "Be still and know that I am God"

If you have been for a silent retreat you would understand this better. If you have not, I would encourage you to do so.

We are in a society of rush, quick, fast paced, quick time, fast foods, instant gratification and keeping up with Jones's that we forget to take time to "smell the roses" - that we cannot bear the silence. This inevitably is reflected in our attitude towards sacred music. Everything must be fast, fast, fast. Not everything must be fast though. We do not take time to pronounce our words anymore when we sing. Therefore, it affects our diction.

Another way of looking at played silence is this:

Sometimes, certain musical instrument must play silence in certain parts of the music during the course of the music itself.

Some instruments need to take a "back seat" momentarily and then joins in the other instruments again at the appropriate or agreed place in the music. And of course, there are exceptions whereby it is appropriate or musical for all to come in at the same time.

Let me try to give a suitable metaphor to explain this. When we eat in a fancy restaurant, foods are categorised in the menu as the below;

1) Drinks
2) Starters
3) Entrees
4) Deserts

The waiter will take your order and served them according to the above line-up. Imagine if all 4 categories are served in one plate, all mixed and blended up together. How would you enjoy your meal then? I bet your taste buds will suffer from abuse. I hope I make sense here.

Therefore we need to work out something during practices to determine the flow of instrumentation. This helps bring out the luminous effect of music to heighten liturgical worship. We need to know when to play and when not to play.

Some instruments take the lead (play the melody) and in the next verse, another set of instruments takes over. And at times, no instruments should play the melody at all, but purely just playing accompaniment parts.

Every hymn has a different set of instrumental combination and must be decided according to the style of music and also to the creativity of the musicians. All these should be worked out during practices.

There is no one way of doing it...only a musical way. By this I mean that as long as it is musical then, highly likely it will sound good.

And there is no fix combination. As long as the combination is musical and does justice to the inner meaning of the music, we can consider.

We need to discern; - wisely.

We pray for wisdom of discernment and a courage to submit to the silence in which you take pleasure in speaking to us. Give us a sense of understanding how important it is to dwell in this silence which is yours to give. Please supply us with opportunities to dwell in silence everyday of our lives. Through Mary's hands we offer up our humble supplication. Amen.

* This 15 minute silence before mass is practised in the Church of St. Thomas More.