It was a song he’d never heard. Austin Chapman clicked up the volume. When the sound of angelic descants whirled into his ears from a recording of Mozart’s Lacrimosa, the young man wept. It wasn’t just the first time he’d heard this piece of music, it was the first time he’d heard music at all.
Sure, he had felt the boom of bass notes or the room shaking with the beat of a drum, but with revolutionary new hearing aids, he was now able to hear the most delicate of notes and discern the nuances of a song.
People all over the world have been weighing in on what bands or genres he needs to listen to next. He’s been working his way through the centuries and decades, tracing music’s journey and hearing the wide spectrum of sound.
But he has his limits, his ears still sensitive to all the new input.
Ironically, he finds himself turning his “hearing aids off more often than before,” enjoying the pause between notes of conversation or the soothing melodies he’s come to love.
“Silence is still my favorite sound,” he said.
In the comments under the Atlantic article, one reader, abk1985, carried on with the theme saying we should all experiment with a sabbath from sound: “I would recommend putting away the earbuds and keeping the car stereo off for a couple weeks. Then, pick a quiet Saturday afternoon when you have nothing you have to do, and deliberately sit down and listen….to go from [silence] to actually hearing it: always a spine tingling experience!”
We come back with ears fresh for the full experience of music. The pauses between notes lend greater power to the sound. The silence gives us margin to ponder the last tone and anticipate the next.
At times when I’ve been discouraged in relationships on social media or when I’ve just been overwhelmed by all of the input, I’ve pulled the imaginary covers up over my head and allowed myself to sink into the rest of Sabbath. A lot of times it has come on Sundays or special occasions. Other times, I have to get away right away. How do you rest from the online experience in order to live more effectively in real life and to better enjoy the layers of digital sight and sound when you return?
Here’s a little Internet break for you. Right now, before you do anything else online….
Turn off as many electronics/machines as you can and let the silence feel like cotton in your ears.
{I’m linking up with Nester for her annual 31 Days blog get together. Don’t want to miss this series? Be sure to subscribe by entering your email in the box on the homepage sidebar. Find all posts in the series here.}
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