performing silences
Judith Diamondstone (diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu)
Sat, 21 Oct 95 11:28:19 EDT
I read through three days' worth of messages on language/silence/music
(our computer system has been down this week), so I am referencing all
of them (from Ellice, Marie, Peter, Michael, Robert, Gordon, Keith) in
this message. I am foregrounding silence here, wondering about the
similarities in the way it functions in language and music.
First I offer a generative memory from my senior year in an
alternative high school, where all (80) students plus faculty
gathered in the early a.m. each school day to listen to about
20 minutes of music in the classical tradition of any culture
(selected by the seniors music committee) followed by silence,
followed by a passage of contemplative
text (from anywhere) selected and read by a student, followed by
silence. I've had comparable (in-excess-of-words/
collective/binding-to-a-social-body) experiences at the few
Cambridge Friends Committee morning meetings I've attended.
I think of this often when I hear the debate over school
prayer - should the separation of church & state entail the elimination
of shared silences? I also wonder if the "common sensorimotor
mechanism" (John) that shapes what is similar about linguistically and
musically mediated experiences might be what is made possible by a
pause.
Judy Diamondstone
Rutgers University