How do you structure silence…?
I came across a quote by Daniel Barenboim, the renowned pianist: “…it is so disruptive when an enthusiastic audience applauds before the final sound has died away, because there is one last moment of expressivity, which is precisely the relationship between the end of the sound and the beginning of the silence that follows. In this respect music is a mirror of life, because both start and end in nothing”.
As a communicator, you feel under constant pressure to fill silence with words and messages.
Silence often terrifies us….We dread silence during presentations because we think it can only mean two things: either we have forgotten what to say or that the audience is not interested and is therefore not asking questions.
We all live under the tyranny of words until something happens…
It was my coaching training that made me realise the power of silence.
 Silence is an essential component of any successful coaching session… Only by building in silence can issues be explored in depth…. Real break-throughs only happen after powerful moments of silence…
So how do we apply this to communications?
The answer might be that we just need to be brave and resist the urge to structure every minute of our presentations, sessions, pitches, etc.
Another quote by Barenboim got me thinking: “I will … attempt the impossible and try to draw some connections between the inexpressible content of music and the inexpressible content of life”.
Communicators do the same. We are brokers of passions. We help people express ideas and we get audiences excited about them.
Is silence the secret ingredient we need to use to turn ideas into reality?
|
|
I feel it is a common misconception about musical improvisation that it is often considered as something you do to fill the silences with sound, when in fact some of the most effective improvisation is really more about how one frames the silences.
Without becoming too esoteric, one has to question what the true meaning of silence is anyway. Even in an anechoic chamber where all sound is sucked away we can still hear our nervous and pulmonary systems. There is only one moment when we are truly in silence…and that, unfortunately, is rather terminal!
Framing the silence with improvisation is such an interesting idea… I have never been in an anechoic chamber. Where can I find one?
I was lucky enough to be invited into one at the UCL Ear Institute. Quite a scary experience actually. It makes you realise how much we use our ears to determine our bearings and the nature of our surroundings.