Noisy Silence, and Silent Noises

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Journal of Biomusical
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Graham, J Biomusic Eng 2015, 3:1
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Journal
DOI: 10.4172/2090-2719.1000e108
ring
ISSN: 2090-2719
Engineering
Editorial Open Access
Noisy Silence, and Silent Noises

Rodger Graham*
Consultant Clinical Psychologist, UK
Editorial mode, alert to and accepting of emotion and experience as it arises

within us [1].
In psychotherapy silence is often experienced as the noisiest
of moments. Moments of quiet in the room afford an anticipatory Biomusicology, the study of the interface between body, mind and
bubbling of thought to arise - a search for solutions, or maybe a simple music is well placed to explore the manner in which music cultivates
anxiety about who will say what next? In general life too these ‘quiet’ a more salutary, spacious mental state. We know that psychological
moments may quite ironically provide opportunity for our minds to distress and most psychological disorders are perpetuated by an
accelerate, to fill the void with the grind of their own machinery. Peace unrelenting fusion with our fearful, gloomy, obsessive thinking and
and quiet often are not the charming friends we all hoped for. Cognition our capacity to judge much of our experience as unwanted. Music,
is noisy and a silent moment in space-time grants it considerable space powerfully, helps us to attend to inner experience, to notice how
to increase in perceived volume. emotions rise and fall in response to motifs designed to move us and
evoke particular waves of feeling within. Moreover, making music
Emerging in recent decades however psychotherapy has cultivated offers an absorption in sound, action and kinaesthetics that is profound
an increasing integration of contemplative traditions that have and ancient. This is most definitely a powerful remedy for a troubled,
historically sought to still, quiet and stabilize our noisy streams of burdened mind more used to focusing on painful contents of its own
consciousness. Primarily the domain of religion for millennia these now imagination and pertaining to simulated events past and future.
popularized approaches are often described under the umbrella term
‘mindfulness’. Meditative techniques and associated practices cultivate Indeed, looking further back into the process of making music
an accepting, judicious awareness of thought and experience allied with instruments we find opportunity for mindfulness. Early man blew with
an intention to direct the attentional state of one’s mind to something in curiosity into cylindrical animal bones and noticed flute-like sonorous
particular. This something may be the breathing cycle and the rising and qualities. Luthiers (builders of stringed instruments) are renowned for
falling of one’s belly with each inbreath and outbreath. It could be the attention to the tonal qualities of wood and to the bracing patterns of
sensations of limbs in motion, or the pressure of alternate feet on the soundboards that afford a desirable tap-tone long before a vibrating
ground as we walk. Mindfulness practices are designed to grow one’s string is ever attached. The sonic qualities of materials and their
capacity for directed attention to these stimuli, an awareness of our potential for sound provides a welcome door into the here-and-now.
habitual distractors, and to do so with an attitude of warm acceptance.
Sound is experienced as curves, textures, height, width, depth,
Many mindfulness practitioners practice, at least in part, with even heat, feel, and taste. These synaesthetic properties invite a
awareness of sound, and for good reason. Sounds, and in particular rich, multimodal experience that beckon participants into a deep
music, afford a deep, rich experience that is inherently arresting in experience with sound that often serves to silence the inner noise of
ways that, one might argue, an awareness of one’s breathing or the soles planning, analyzing, wanting, wishing, judging and complaining.
of the feet seldom are. Sound floods awareness with its vibration and As biomusicology progresses it is important that we remember this
the detail inherent in even the most simple of music forms provides a stabilising feature of music and sound as we seek to help those burdened
plethora of observational content including melody, harmony, timbre by thoughts and many associated feelings that hurt, discourage and
and dynamics. Listened to with curiosity and interest music can create damage. Hopefully research will seek to measure and document this
a profound silence of sorts in the mind, often replacing the noise process.
and clatter of our own cognitive processes. Listening, for many, is a
channel to a more spacious, less compressed mental state that is more As we listen to music with intent we learn to allow thoughts to pass
observational than the direct, fused experience of our more habitual us by and that, I suggest, is a silence worth listening to.
entanglement with thoughts. Moreover, we listen to music cognisant References
of it’s designed emotive effects and with an intention to watch our
1. Graham R (2010) A cognitive-attentional perspective on the psychological
emotions rise and fall with the nuance of the music and the network of
benefits of listening. Music and Medicine 2: 167-173.
its associations in our minds. Music listening places us in observational
*Corresponding author: Dr Rodger Graham, Consultant Clinical Psychologist,

UK, Tel: 02380840044; E-mail: [email protected]
Received October 06, 2015; Accepted October 08, 2015; Published October 12, 2015
Citation: Graham R (2015) Noisy Silence, and Silent Noises. J Biodivers Endanger
Species 3: e108. doi:10.4172/2332-2543.1000e108
Copyright: © 2015 Graham R. This is an open-access article distributed under

the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and
source are credited.
J Biomusic Eng
Volume 3 • Issue 1 • 1000e108
ISSN: 2090-2719 JBE, an open access journal

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Noisy Silence, and Silent Noises

Editorial mode, alert to and accepting of emotion and experience as it arises

*Corresponding author: Dr Rodger Graham, Consultant Clinical Psychologist,

Copyright: © 2015 Graham R. This is an open-access article distributed under

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