John Cage was an American composer, musician and artist who did a composition called 4’33”.  The performance involved sitting at his piano for 4 minutes and 33 seconds while not playing a single chord.  The audience were not aware that this was his intention.  The aim of his piece was to challenge the perception of silence with the idea that “everything we do is music.”

I watched the clip on youtube and thought what a waste of time that was, I wish I could have that time back.  To me it just seemed like pretentious rubbish. To be such a talented musician and be best known for a composition which doesn’t include a single note just seems absurd.  But the performance was more intended to be thought provoking in analysing human behaviour.

It does leave the question is there ever such a moment of silence?  The art of listening is becoming a harder skill to acquire with so many distractions in the modern world.  It does make me wonder that maybe I have never had a silent moment in my life.  Even when I’m lying in bed in what I thought is complete silence, my breathing has rhythm and my heart beats loudly.