Home 1. Introduction 2. Markers 3. Archive 4. Audible Markers 5. Visible Markers 6. Notational Markers 7. Conclusion
3.1. Integrated Silences 3.2. Inherent Silences 3.3. Silent Discourse 3.4. Meta-Silences 3.5. Silencings
3.5 Silencings
When the performer is silenced, that silence appears at the interstices of silencing and silence. This can happen in many situations. Sometimes, a performer can be silenced by losing agency or creative control. Douglas Kahn has argued that John Cage’s 4’33” aggressively silences the performer. Sometimes, a performer can be silenced by the complex demands of the score (by losing virtuosity or ability), as in the examples of Newt Hinton or Dmitri Kourliandski presented here. Or the performer can be silenced by larger societal forces: racism, cancellation, or censorship. Shostakovich’s creative brilliance was silenced by Stalin in 1936 after the premiere of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Fitzpatrick, 1992, p. 188). Paul Robeson’s touring career as a singer was silenced by the US State Department due to his race and his communist sympathies (Slate, 2014, p. 86).
A comprehensive coverage of silencing in all its musical forms is impossible here because of the enormity of the topic. This section gives a few representative examples of artworks about silencing from my practice. There are also other situations in which I have been silenced by not being allowed to perform (someone else was chosen, a festival was canceled, money was withdrawn). Of course, there is a considerable distinction between the social or political silencing of artists versus creating performances about the topic of silencing as a free artist.