Sunday, July 27, 2008

Crescendo and quiet

My guitar teacher writes about The Power of Silence when accompanying another musician. Even if you don't play music, this article has some pertinent perspectives for life in general. The difference between interrupting and "conversation overlap" is that in the latter scenario, each person is listening to the other and intuitively knowing when to speak.

Silence itself has become a precious commodity. In Ellin Greene's Storytelling: Art and Technique: Third Edition, the textbook I used for my graduate school storyteling class, there is a section that recommends the library storyteller allows a few minutes of quiet between each story to allow the listeners to reflect upon what they have just heard. A few minutes? I'm lucky if I can encourage a few moments! This is why I alter stories with songs, and strive to have something quiet and reflective follow something boistrous.

As I think ahead to what I want for this blog, I've decided to create a regular posting schedule and save items for specific days, rather than just posting when I feel like it and fretting during the dry spells. In that way, I can provide something more measured and even. For the next while, Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays shall be my regular days. Tuesday posts will probably be written on Tuesday evenings.

4 comments:

Anamaria (bookstogether) said...

What a thoughtful post; thank you. I agree that a lot of what happens in music-making has clear parallels for everyone. And I've been toying with the idea of a regular posting schedule, too--maybe I'll follow up on that now. I hope it works!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

"something more measured and even" - what? You mean like snow - as in "Good King Wenceslas"? Just a thought - perhaps unmeasured and uneven is preferable?

Saints and Spinners said...

Anamaria: Thanks! We'll see how it goes for both of us.

YP: I don't know, "deep and crisp and even" sounds good to me-- like a lemon bar, perhaps? Mmmmm, lemon bars.

Lone Star Ma said...

Mmmmm, lemon bars....