Silence: the other half of singing

At the end of a recent residential singing weekend I was acutely aware of absence when everyone had left. The silence was almost painful. It got me thinking about the different kinds of silence in singing. There are three kinds of silence in all music: before, during and after. Before The silence before singing is full of anticipation: anything can happen. What’s coming next? These silences occur at the very start of a concert; before the next song; immediately before a singer makes a sound; at the start of a workshop or warm-up; in an empty space before a workshop even starts. During This is the silence of drama, of holding a moment, of suspension. During any kind of music-making there are pauses of silence. In singing it is often when a singer takes a breath between phrases, but it can also be a dramatic pause in a song. It can also be the silence between songs during a concert. The short gap before applause breaks out. Or just before a new song begins, as the audience and singers…