# Filling in the gap (silence) in music with musical imagery - samples?



## longtalker (Feb 20, 2010)

Hi everyone,

I'm struggling trying to think of some examples of music (preferably classical) where there is a rest - or rather an interruption - in the music, which is of sufficient length, and inserted at the right time, such that during that pause, the listener cannot help but "fill in the missing piece" by imagining how the "deleted" music would sound in their own minds - presumably according to musical rules learned implicitly. For this, listeners would presumably use the process known as mental musical imagery - what enables us to "play" music in our heads when we sit in silence and with no sound source present.

I seem to recall there was some Haydn symphony or string quartet where he does that: music stops, and a few seconds later when it resumes, it doesn't pick up where it left off but instead where it would have been had no silence been inserted; but it's not any of his well-known jokes such as the String Quartet op. 33 (where he creates false endings) or the Surprise Symphony (where he has sudden loud onsets in the music).

There are of course many examples that come to mind of "preganant" pauses in music where time feels to stop and where the anticipation rises as to when the music will resume. Such examples include the pause ahead of the very end of Handel's "hallelujah" chorus in Messiah, or the rests interspersed at the beginning of Beethoven's Coriolan overture. However, these are instances where, rather than the mind trying to fill in a piece that's been left out (musical imagery), it just put things "on hold" and eagerly awaits the music to resume.

Any thoughts of music that has such "fill in the blank" pauses in it? Many thanks in advance for any replies.


----------



## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

I'm not sure which category is right for the very ending of Sibelius' symphony 5. We aren't really anticipating anything anymore, all has been said; then these long pauses come, and we aren't holding our breath, awaiting some revelation (because it will not come in the form of music). Rather, maybe we are hearing "the music behind the music" - we know that the "holy of holies" is right there, locked behind a door that we see, but we are finally not allowed to enter, and that is precisely why the "holy of holies" retains its holiness. But maybe we aren't hearing the kind of music that one could put to notes.


----------



## longtalker (Feb 20, 2010)

Thanks, that's an interesting example, though certainly different from what I had in mind, which had to do more with actual breaks in the music that prompt automatic imagery to kick in and fill in the missing bits (e.g. a certain chord in a cadence)


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I love this idea. It seems similar to the lost edge technique in drawing and painting where the mind fills in what it knows must be there. 

I don't know any examples in music but I'll be watching this thread.


----------



## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

Wow, very difficult thread, which makes this fun. Let me try this:

Ives write a lot of stream-of-conscious type material, where he leaves a hymn or melody or whatnot and just moves onto something else, or ends the piece! Here are some:

The Alcotts from Concord Sonata ~ 3:00

In fact, that whole piece is filled with random breaks and cuts to new music.

Violin Sonata No. 4, final movement ending

Smetana SQ No. 1, the ringing E ~ 3:30


----------



## longtalker (Feb 20, 2010)

Thanks Avey for those suggestions. Again, quite different from what I was trying to find - instances where the listener's musical imagery is prompted automatically, with or without his conscious realisation of it - examples of which are apparently not easy to find in the repertoire.


----------

