A young man has died: Felix Wurman, aged 51. He was a very fine musician, grew up in Oak Park and moved to New Mexico. Watching a YouTube video of him the other day, I was struck by his statement about "silence". He mentioned that silence is a very difficult thing to achieve in this day and age because there is always man-made sound around us. Even in an isolated country place, you will probably hear an airplane overhead at some point. Felix said that it's possible to focus on "inner silence" and that could be an important goal.
Last night at Tai Chi class, the instructor neglected to bring his CD player with the usual "Zen music" things on it. So we did the form in total silence. We loved it. It was like being immersed in a soft wool blanket. It was smooth and even. Nothing stopped the flow. The flow kept flowing on and on as we breathed and moved through space.
As much as I love music, I love silence, too. I need to remember this because sometimes I go on for too many hours without silence, listening to my iPod, for example.
Another thing: in traditional Japanese music, the silences are considered part of the music. It's part of the Japanese aesthetic and philosophy to consider "the void" as real as "the something".
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2 comments:
I'm the same way Liz, the silence is dificult even though I live away from the street. I for the most part create my own world of sound and am some what disconscerted when some other sound creeps in. Because of neighbors I listen to music and watch movies on my computer under headphones.
Your "world of sound"! What a nice expression! And, "because of neighbors" you use your headphones. So, you can listen as loud as you want! The neighbor thing is like my husband. He needs to have it quiet most of the time. I need to have music most of the time. Ooops! Solution: earphones! Then he complains that he can't get my attention, hahahaha! If I lived alone, I would be able to play everything as loud as I want.
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