Response to Blog: Silence

This is a response to Amy Rosvally's question what is silence. In the dictionary the word silence is defined as the absence of sound/ speech. It is associated with the words muteness, speechlessness, and peace. Thinking about these word associations, I don't think there is such thing as pure utter silence (not considering the deaf). Ever seen a scene in a comedy show where some one is trying to concentrate on their homework or office work and the room appears to be silent. Suddenly the person starts to become distracted from the ticking of the clock, the dripping of water from the faucet, a soft breeze blowing a house plant and other things. This is when they usually start to go crazy and give up on the task in front of them. This illustrates that there is no such thing as silence. Though the environment seems to be at peace there are many things that could be heard like the hum of the fridge, or the trip of an elevator, even the sound of your own breath. Silence is a goal that is wanted to be achieved, but will never be unless the hairs in your ears are destroyed or death comes.
What I find is that, people think they achieve silence when obvious noises aren't happening, for example I can say that my room is so silent that I could hear a pin drop. It is quiet in here, I don't hear anyone talking outside my door, there is no music or TV and no loud traffic outside, in the world of a person who isn't a keen observer, this room could be deemed silent. We do forget to include other not so obvious environmental factors. To me my room is not silent. I hear the hum of the light, the hum of the fridge, and yes, my own breath. Many people have forgotten to include less obvious nosies into the category of sound and therefore deem an area as silent. What I feel is that no matter how many times the librarian may say "ssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" , she will never get the silence she is looking for. There are sounds everywhere and when we aren't listening to that annoying person tell us a not so funny joke, we are listening to our heart beating and the blood rushing through our veins.

My question: What ever happened to getting in touch with the enviroment and listening to the music of nature?

The Silence of Music?

After watching John Cages piece, 4'33'' , there was much conversation as to what his intention was with the piece and whether or not we can look at his piece and classify it as the art of music. Cage sits at the piano looks like he is about to play, however makes hand gestures for 4 mins. and 33 secs and then gets up and walks off stage. I do which there was a way to see the audiences' reaction, but there were sounds of feet shuffling indicating that maybe people were leaving.

Through this piece Cage wanted to portray that there is music in silence and the elements that make up the music we hear with instruments are the same that make up the "music of silence". After doing a bit of research and watching the video, I came to the conclusion that his composition can be counted as music. The piece that he performs contains music just like any other composition. There is tempo(how fast or slow he used his hands) rhythm, (the motion/ direction his hand goes in) and then the sound of the audience breathing, shuffling, walking out, the hum of the air conditioner can be included into the elements of this piece. In my research I found that a critic said, "Cage noticed that in this supposedly silent space he could still make out two faint, constant sounds. Afterwards, he was told that the higher pitched noise was his nervous system, the lower his blood pumping through his veins. From this, Cage concluded that we are all making music all the time - we just don't know it."

From this I can conclude that music is everywhere and in everything. It may not be a band or a particular instrument, but everything has it's own distinct sound and that sound can be taken as music. Right now I am sitting here and the hum of my fridge and the click-clack of the keys as I type can be considered sound that is translated into music. Ever see a recent Folgers or Tyson anytizers chicken commercial? The commercial makes a tune out of objects like the shake of a coffee can and the clink of a teaspoon and a mug as well as coffee being poured into a cup and being slammed on the table. Laying in bed at night I hear the pitter-patter of the rain and the howl of the wind mixed with the motion of the elevator. This musical "silence" is what I believe Cage wanted to get across in his piece. Music is everywhere all we have to do is just listen and the silence will guide us. Many believe that the art of music has to contain instruments, but it doesn't, just like paintings don't need color or a canvas; I mean can't we paint with all the colors of the wind? My question is, Cage was brave enough to attempt this, how would this piece be viewed if it wasn't performed by an expert? Could this piece be classified in any particular genre?

Critic: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/john-cage-uncaged-bbc-symphony-orchestra-radio-3-573488.html