What is it about silence that is so powerful? Why is silence an attention-grabber? Is that we simply don't have enough silence in our lives or is it that there is an inner chamber in our psyche that craves silence- perhaps even requires a certain amount of sound cessation?
We all have differing levels of "sound" tolerance, both in what we hear and when we hear it. My sound tolerance is such a dichotomy. On one hand, my avocation and vocation of playing in bands and orchestras certainly prepared me for a higher tolerance of sound. It is physiologically impossible to be intolerant of sound and be a part of a large performing group. Then, my career path of teaching public-school instrumental music further elevated my tolerance for sound. Some naysayers would call what I did listening to "noise", but to me, the sounds of a band - whether beginning or more advanced - warming up was true "music" to my ears, to use a trite phrase. Having to prepare bands for parade marching developed yet another level of tolerance. After I learned not to stand right next to the bass drummers, I grew to love the pulsating and primal sounds of a drum line rehearsing their parts, either for a parade march or the parade cadence. There is little more energizing in this world, for moi, with perhaps, the exception of good, loud rock music, or a thundering pipe organ .
On the other hand, for someone who loves loud cadences and music, I am unable to tolerate noise from almost any source when I am attempting to sleep. The slightest sounds, even the faintest of lights, will preclude me from attaining that most elusive of primal needs - sleep.
I came to realize the power of silence in regards to classroom discipline. Silence proved to be so much more effective than any verbal posturing, wheedling, whining, or yammering that I might have done. Nothing will get and keep a group's collective attention like silence. My pastor used silence so brilliantly this morning, when he intentionally ceased speaking, only gazing over the congregation, in an effort to make a theological point. Our congregation has been used to silence in the past, only the silence we were accustomed to was a speech pattern of pausing to find a word or collect thoughts. Today's sermon silence spoke so much more than any words ever could have done.
Do you find it odd that I wrote this posting while listening to my favorite classical FM station AND listening for the washing machine to finish its cycle. Mendelssohn and Maytag - what strange bedfellows.
Ancora imparo
