A reflection on sound and silence from Beth Barnett: How do we manage noise and sound in our shared worship life? When studying either music analysis or composition, one of the basic things we learn to give equal attention is sound and silence. Music that is all sound is tedious and fatiguing. Music that is all silence...isnt. There is music that is structured in silence - as John Cage so brilliantly demonstrates in is 4 min 33sec. There are aspects of human experience that can be meaningfully expressed in welters of sound - and others that are best expressed in an economy of single sound and much room for silence. But for the most part, managing sound and silence well is quite an art, and one that I dont think we train anyone who undergoes theological education in very well. Handel was one of the masters of managing sound and silence and gives us a good learn from example: Listen to all the little silences between the sections (esp. the one before And he shall reign and before the first King of Kings)- and the magnificent silence before the final halleljuah - what does your own heart long to cry out in that silence? And how grateful are you for the space to feel that? Working with Sound and Silence in a helpful way is an art and a science - and most of the time, we hack around without really thinking it thought, and then fight over the poor results. Can we learn from those with gifts and intelligence how to use both sound and silence well, rather than degenerating into two teams and forming a competition?How might this approach also work in other areas of human/christian praxis? https://youtube/watch?v=IUZEtVbJT5c
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 00:47:35 +0000
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