The silence

LISTEN TO THAT! Listen to what?

In last week's class we performed a radio music piece that involved tuning stations at random timing according to the order of a sheet with the only limitations being it would span 6 minutes and you could not stay on one station for the whole time. Because of this inbetween stations we encountered a lack of a radio program however, i would argue that we still got tonal music in the "blank" frequencies. I feel this way because there is still noise in the background. If you asked someone to listen after you turned the dial on a radio from a station to a unused frequenced you would get the "Listen to what?" response and it would be common to hear them say what am i listening for there is nothing there, its just silence. This wouldn't occur in some cases where a radio projects the static very loudly, but especially on many newer radios nothing would project and maybe there IS silence. However i would still argue this is very much so musical for many reasons.
Mainly I would argue for that because you can easily compare the empty frequencies to the pauses in songs. Is it not true that just as you are dialed in with your attention in a song when its paused, and you wait for something to happen? Is it not also true that when you have a radio on and it is not tuned to a broadcasting station it makes that same desire for something to happen occur? In my mind much of the effectiveness in music might be in the commonly unnoticed, suspense of pause or silence. THE SILENCE is what brings forth our desire for more, and does its job every time.

Chris Lundeen