{"id":47569,"date":"2018-02-08T17:25:27","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T01:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allclassical.org\/?p=47569"},"modified":"2018-02-08T17:25:44","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T01:25:44","slug":"the-canvas-of-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allclassical.org\/the-canvas-of-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Canvas of Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here at\u00a0All\u00a0Classical\u00a0Portland,\u00a0we have our own\u00a0library of CDs which we\u00a0draw from to use in\u00a0our day-to-day\u00a0radio\u00a0programming.\u00a0However,\u00a0rather than playing these CDs directly on the radio,\u00a0volunteers\u00a0first\u00a0burn\u00a0each CD\u00a0into our hard drives, where\u00a0we\u00a0can use them on-air\u00a0 in\u00a0the\u00a0form of\u00a0.wav<\/b>\u00a0files.\u00a0One of my current tasks as an intern is to edit\u00a0.wav<\/b>\u00a0files\u00a0of pieces\u00a0that have been burned into the\u00a0computer\u00a0but\u00a0are still not quite ready\u00a0for air play.\u202fUsing\u00a0a\u00a0music editing software, I\u00a0listen to each piece and\u00a0edit the amount of silence that occurs before a piece starts, after it ends, and between movements of pieces like concertos and symphonies.\u00a0This task is important because there are\u00a0often\u00a0up to\u00a0four or\u00a0five seconds of silence before sound starts on a CD\u00a0track.\u00a0<\/span>I edit each piece to begin with just the right amount of pause\u00a0for the radio host to press play after\u00a0announcing the piece, and set\u00a0the\u00a0stage for the start of the\u00a0music.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Measuring the moments of silence that bookend a piece\u00a0got me thinking about the\u00a0crucial\u00a0role that silence plays in our experience of listening to classical music.\u202fMusic, of course, is made up of sounds, but it is also characterized by the silences that happen\u00a0between<\/i>\u00a0the sounds.\u00a0The silence that takes place\u202fwithin\u202fa piece of music\u00a0can create profound effects \u2013 effects of\u202fsurprise, humor, fear, or a sense of expanded time and space. Sometimes these moments of silence are tiny, even unnoticeable to a listener. Other times, they can interrupt the flow of music and shock a listener into a new level of awareness.\u202fThroughout\u00a0the history\u00a0of classical music, many composers have realized that\u00a0silence<\/i>\u00a0can be just as expressive as sound, holding different philosophies towards\u00a0their use of\u00a0silence\u00a0as a tool to create different effects\u00a0on the listener. Let\u2019s explore some of those effects here.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Silence as Surprise:\u00a0<\/b>Joseph Haydn, String Quartet Op. 33 No. 2, “The Joke,” IV. Presto<\/b>\u00a0(1781)<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n