The notion of silence refers to the absence of noise or sound . Musical , meanwhile, is that related to the music (a succession of sounds that combines harmony, rhythm and melody for the recreation of the ear).
A musical silence therefore it is a pause that exists in a piece of music. This silence can be defined as a note without execution : each figure, in this way, has its corresponding silence, with whom it shares duration.
The musical silences allow the break of musicians and singers and the separation of the different musical phrases. In musical theory, the round it is represented by the number 1, since it is considered the unity ; From this, it is easy to understand the relationship it has with the others, since the number of each responds to how many times a white must be divided to obtain it. For example, since white equals two white, four black, eight eighth and sixteenth sixteenth notes, it is easy to understand that the representative numbers of these figures are 2, 4, 8 and 16, respectively.
With this clear, various equivalences can be used. A round silence , by example , is equivalent to two silences of white, four silences of black and eight silences of eighth notes.
Beyond the musical silences of round, you can talk about semicorchea silences , eighth notes , silences of black , white silences , etc. It is also possible to extend a musical silence through tiptoes , which allow increasing the duration of silence by half the value of the figure to which it is applied; for example, a white with a lace has a duration equivalent to that of a white plus a black.
Many musicians have highlighted the importance of musical silence in the perception of the music. The Argentinian Charly garcia He once said that the important thing in a piece of music "It's not the notes", but "distance" that exists between them and that is established by musical silences. This is essential when composing, but also when performing, and not many musicians are able to master "the art of silence."
In the first place, it is necessary to understand that all the musical pieces that we hear on a daily basis are composed of several silences, since this does not imply that the work is stopped, but rather it determines the moments in which each instrument (which includes the human voice ) must cease execution until another note appears .
In a good interpretation , silence must have as much weight as sound, and must be used to convey the message of the work; Sometimes, this is relatively simple to achieve, but others can become a real challenge.
Take the case of a popular song that says "I must stop" in its lyrics and that in that part of the melody imposes silence on all instruments with the intention of emphasizing the idea of the text; its interpretation does not pose many challenges, since it is enough for everyone to stop issuing sounds so that the message reaches the public. On the other hand, musical silence can be used in much less obvious ways, to recreate a wide range of sensations and feelings, such as being shyness, indecision, tiredness and anger , among many other cases.
When the musical silence of several instruments is combined, the possibility of engaging in a dialogue among them, something very common in academic music, and almost nonexistent in popular music. Many composers of the past relied on this and other basic concepts to create interesting moments between an oboe and a clarinet, a violin and the voice, or two flutes, for example.
