Our theme for the month of February: Silence. We will experience 4’33” by John Cage. Cage conceived the piece in 1948, when he gave it the working title “Silent Prayer.” The work’s manuscript declared that it was not written, “for any instrument or combination of instruments.” It then specified that there were three movements of set duration—33 seconds, 2 minutes 40 seconds, and 1 minute 20 seconds, respectively.

For each movement, Cage’s sole instruction to the performer(s) was “Tacet” (Latin: “[it] is silent,” used in music to indicate that the musician is not to play.)

It quickly became one of the most controversial musical works of the 20th century because it consisted of silence or, more precisely, ambient sound—what Cage called “the absence of intended sounds.”

February 4th-When Our Heart is In a Holy Place by Joyce Poley

“When we share the silence of sacred space”

February 11th-The Sound of Winter by Jay Althouse

“Silence is the sound of Winter” “Can you hear a snow-flake falling?” “Can you hear it

touch the ground?” “ Listen to the sound of winter……Mmm” ❄️

February 18th- The Sound of Silence by Paul Simon

“Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again” The Narrator has no one to talk to and the only thing that understands him is the darkness and his own loneliness.

“In restless dreams, I walked alone - narrow streets of cobblestone.”

But the song reaches beyond the perspective of a single narrator, a flash of light, revealing a mass of people, humanity all seeking refuge in their own darkness and their own silence.

February 25th - NO CHOIR REHEARSAL OR ANTHEM

EARTH HARMONY - Singer/songwriter Christina and Bass player Ted will lead music on February 25th in my absence.

See you in Church,