# best use of silence in music

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-silence-in-music/160014>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 9, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-silence-in-music/160014 "2003-03-09T02:12:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-silence-in-music/160014/41 "2003-03-13T06:41:43Z")

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Listening to some songs today, I noticed a couple more:

From “My Stupid Mouth” by John Mayer.

> [@](#):
>
> I’m never speaking up again  
> Starting now.  
> [long pause]  
> One more thing.  
> Why is it my fault?

It almost sounds like the song is over, but then it comes back. I like it.

And, from “Betrayed” from **The Producers** (the new musical, not the movie). For those who don’t know, during this song, Max Bialystock is remembering all the events that happened in the show so far, singing a phrase or two from all the previous songs. (The \<snips\> are mostly those songs.)

> [@](#):
>
> How did it begin?  
> He walked into my office  
> With his cockamamie scheme  
> “You can make more money  
> With a flop than with a hit”  
> \<snip\>  
> “Come on, Leo, we can do it!”  
> Step one, find the play!  
> \<snip\>  
> Step two, hire the director  
> \<snip\>  
> Step three, raise the money  
> \<snip\>  
> Intermission!  
> \<long pause\>  
> Step four, hire all the actors  
> \<etc.\>

I think you have to hear it to get the full comic effect, but you get the idea.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-silence-in-music/160014/42 "2003-03-13T06:46:52Z")

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The best use of silence in music?

That’d be the time that I smashed my sister’s _Menudo_ albums.

[sub]Okay, that didn’t really happen.[/sub]

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**Author:** ![Sparrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-silence-in-music/160014/43 "2003-03-13T08:22:13Z")

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The amazing pause just before the end of Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”.

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