Hold That Thought...and Note

Imagine 70 singers and musicians holding a single sound for 20 minutes. 

A single sound - namely a D major chord - for a full 20 minutes.

And then silence.

For another 20 minutes.

Stay with me now.


Monotone Symphony Orchestra

The performance, called Monotone-Silence Symphony, was the 1960's brainchild of Yves Klein, a conceptual painter who died at age 34.  It was recently performed at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City.  CBS Sunday Morning reported on the eccentric piece.  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57603921/passage-a-concert-of-note/

My first instinct was to grab some breakfast when the piece aired, but curiosity got the better of me.

What hooked me was the simplicity of it all.  One sound.  What a focused luxury in a world where buckets of sound flood our ears every moment.   Like octopi, we daily grab for texting, tweeting, emailing, and messaging at warp speed.  We send and receive messages, often thoughtlessly.

Monotone-Silence Symphony challenges its listeners to surrender, receive and then sit with silence.  The NY Times reported on the event and quoted Daniel Moquay, who oversees the Klein archive and estate in Paris, as saying that the silence is sometimes more difficult for audiences to take in than the sound. 'You get into the deepness of a silence and you realize that silence is not a nothing,' he said. 'Silence is something that is very, very powerful.'" http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/arts/music/yves-kleins-monotone-silence-symphony-comes-to-manhattan.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Lunar-scape at Haleakala Volcano crater on Maui.

One of the most profound silences I've experienced was while hiking on Maui.  Haleakala (House of the Sun) volcano rises 10,000 ft. Various trails take you to the crater floor at about 8,000 ft.  On a day trip with my brother, Vincent, we walked the elongated switchbacks during a cloudless winter dawn.  The lunar landscape rapidly erased island visions of palm trees and jewel tone seas.  (In fact, the Apollo 11 astronauts trained on the crater floor because it is a close replica for conditions on the Moon's surface.)

As we settled into the daylong trek and conversation became sparse, the sound of my boots scraping the gravelly lava rock pebbles increased. The gritty sound filled my ears.  After a while the raspy noise gave way to my breathing which became the overriding thing I heard.  I expected to experience stock still silence while walking through this desolate place.   Instead my breathing became the lone sound that was amplified almost to distraction. 

This shocked me. 

Where was the quiet?  Even swallowing water turned the volume way up! 

It dawned on me that removing the daily exterior sounds had made room for the rhythmic interior tones which are always in play.  I didn't know it at the time but I was in the middle of a meditation while hiking.  I was unexpectedly aware of myself in a sparse, alive way and nothing else could break the connection. 

I think Monotone-Silence Symphony offers this same path to meditation.  How often do we actually try to quiet down to this level and let our controlled breathing open ourselves up?  It is an overarching challenge in our electronic lives.  

To think this symphonic idea sprung forth just about 60 years ago before everything beeped, rang, and bellowed at us (and that is just from our phones!) makes me appreciate the artist's intention.  The cacophonous sixties had their own distractions.  The 21st century heightens them exponentially.  Klein sure had a vision.     

Several people from different parts of my world have recommended Deepak Chopra's 21-Day Meditation Challenge.  Monotone-Silence Symphony was the final push to inspire me to try meditation.  Plus, Deepak Chopra is no slouch when it comes to this practice - why not start at the top?

I am not a quiet person.  Meditation is not meant to change that, but rather, to allow some room for internal quiet - to silence the distractions and be.  

Wish me luck. 

Now, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....