Music is Meant To Silence Us.

Oil by Koos Bronkhorst

By Willem J. Bronkhorst

Music is meant to silence us. It ought to persuade us by delicacy and rarity that in its presence even the softest whisper is an obtrusion – it is sacrilege. But the increasing crudeness and incessantness of what passes for music these days, rather than silence us tells us that with its blaring, any babble will blend[[1]]. And so we babble – incessantly - obtrusively. We forget without silence there can be no music.


As for that phrase “what passes for music” – who’s to say what music is or is not? Surely one man’s noise is another man’s music – and vice-versa? Surely it is all matter of taste?[2] What is music? One can intend the question in the physical and the metaphysical sense.In the physical sense music is, of course, sound. Not just any sound is music[3]. More particularly, music is ordered sound. Sound that is not ordered is noise[4]. Sounds can vary in duration, pitch, accent, intensity and timbre[5]. By means of this, sounds are ordered to create melody, harmony, and rhythm. These are the materials – the “shapes, shades and colours” of the sound-artist – his pallet. Silence is his canvass[6]. The instrumentalist, or singer, or choir, or ensemble, or orchestra, as the case may be, is the composer’s brush. Seen like this we see, I hope, why even an obtrusive whisper in the presence of music is sacrilege. Obtrusive sound where music is being made is on a par with mud-flinging where a painting is being painted. It ruins the canvass and so the painting. But there is an even more compelling reason why such sacrilege must be rooted out in music’s sanctuary.

This brings me to the metaphysical nature of music. What, metaphysically speaking, is music? To put the question differently, why is music? I offer the following definition: Music is the expression, in sound, of the human experience in all its facets. In music we cry, we laugh and lament, we plead and we pray, we hope and we fret, we whisper, we worship, we shout, but all this in the music, by the music, through the music. Not obtrusively. Obtrusive sound in music’s presence is sacrilege because it is, at best, insensitivity towards, or, at worst, contempt for the human experience itself.And so, the crudeness, the loudness and the incessantness of music, that invites our obtrusions, has made music to turn on itself. It is another indication that we have turned on ourselves.

Music is meant to silence us.

[1] I exclude from this statement music played for the sake of dancing and frolicking, which has its place. So do I exclude film music.

[2] With this I heartily agree, but probably not in the sense the statement is generally intended. Some soul once told me that I must not be critical of Rap music because “surely God sent Rap music into the world”. I wondered for a moment what had happened to the Devil. But, not wanting to sound ungracious, I did not press that good point. Rather, said I, if God did send Rap music into the world he must have done so because he did not want people with bad taste to feel left out.

[3] Not all composers know this.

[4] This is not to say that all ordered sound is music, of course.

[5] See: William Lovelock. The Rudiments of Music. London: Billing and Sons Limited, 1957, p.1.