Jobs

Music

Silence - Who wrote it and how lomg did it last?

There was a controversial piece written some years ago which was around 3 mins long of silence. On stage the artiste would open the piano lid and sit for the designated time then close the lid. The theory being that the background noise in the auditorium was an integral part of the work in itself and by removing the musical notes the 'music' comes to the fore. But .. who wrote it , when was it 'written' and how long did it last?

ainitatyb Sun 12/10/08 19:56

<< Previous

Next >>

Subscribe to question

Post an Answer

Judge Nutmeg
Sun 12/10/08
20:14

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4%E2%80%B233%E2%8 0%B3

That could be what you're looking for.

squarebear
Sun 12/10/08
20:14

John Cage wrote a piece called "4 minutes 33" which was silent

Disco Fever
Mon 13/10/08
07:43

How can you write a piece of music that is total silence???

And I bet you can get it on the internet somewhere....

saxy_jag
Mon 13/10/08
19:58

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E

It's based on the principle that silence is as valid a sound as any made by a musical instrument. In fact, the 'music' of 4' 33" is the coughs and movements of both orchestra and audience.

Almost all music has silent bits. A musician in an orchestra will often come to a passage where he is 'tacit', ie. he doesn't play for however many bars it says on his music. Usually that's when another part of the orchestra is playing, but sometimes it can mark a short period where the entire orchestra is silent, perhaps for one or two beats, or for a whole bar - just for effect. 4' 33" is simply this device taken to its extreme.

alipan
Mon 13/10/08
21:11

Wow sounds intresting! Ive never heard of that before! I must research that:)

Post an Answer

Submit the above question and answers

add to del.icio.us	add to digg	add to furl
add to reddit	add to Technorati	add to Blinklist
add to StumbleUpon	add to squidoo	add to ma.gnolia
add to Cocomment	add to Netscape	add to Fark