Re: Silence (Brian Gygi )

Subject: Re: Silence
From:    Brian Gygi  <bgygi(at)EBIRE.ORG>
Date:    Wed, 5 Mar 2003 11:54:24 -0800

At 02:19 PM 3/5/2003 -0500, Harold Fiske wrote:
>Dear List,
>I received an inquiry from someone asking about the perception of
>silence.
>Specifically:
>
>  "How is silence perceived in a musical context? Is
>  the listener's 'attitude' changed when a rest unfolds in
>  music? or, are sounds and silences so linked in music to
>  enable us to distinguish the two?"


Ask John Cage - whoops, you can't.  Oh well, he certainly had a lot to say
on the subject, having written a whole book on it (called Silence).  One of
his goals in composing 4' 33" was to make listeners of all the sounds that
go on when they think there is nothing going on.