Is less more?

I love loud things.

I love the weather when it is stormy and rainy and the window is open and I am curled up under the covers.

I love it when I listen to music when the bass sound beats and vibrates through your whole body.

I love listening to my ipod so that it blocks out the rest of the world.

I love playing in a band with guitars and bass guitars and drums and singers.

I once had an American history teacher at university who had previously taught in a deaf college in America. She said that many people often think that a deaf college would be a very quiet place but that in fact it is very loud because many deaf students carry huge stereos so that they can feel the bass vibrations though they cannot hear them.

I loved that idea.

But recently I have been thinking about quiet things.

At church we have for various reasons over the last year lost musicians from our church music group. I’m not suggesting we just misplaced them because that would just be careless. Some left the church and went to a new one. Some left the church. Some decided they did not wish to play anymore. But that is not really the point.

The point is that we have ended up having smaller groups. At first this frustrated me because you cannot always pick the music you would want to and it can be harder to fill the space with less sound. But last week we had just two guitars and two singers and it worked. It made me think more about what you can do with less. How with two guitars can you layer them? How can you use dynamics differently? Can you begin with one and then add one?

Of course these things can be done with a big band but somehow it is more noticeable with less.

This week at practice we had 3 singers, one mandola, one djembe drum and one guitar (although not all at the same time). And it was interesting. Exciting to try new things, new sounds, new textures.

So I still love loud things. But maybe sometimes I like some quieter things too now. Perhaps less is more.

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