The Sound of Silence

I sing with a wonderful women's barbershop chorus. The White Rosettes.

Ten years or so ago, we learnt a beautiful arrangement of the Simon and Garfunkel song The Sound of Silence. Very powerful lyrics, and a powerful meaning. We sang it in some incredible settings, all around the country and across Europe too. It never failed to move audiences.

One thing I really loved about performing this song was the staging. We added choreography, for impact.

The song opens with the whole chorus singing a rather eerie, wordless, chromatic sequence of chords — chords with an element of dissonance in them.

And then, a solo voice steps into the spotlight.

Our Musical Director, Sally — who is usually our conductor — in this case stands facing the audience and sings solo. "Hello darkness, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again."

Three more singers join her. They sing in harmony, a quartet, alongside Sally.

Then four more singers join. They sing in octet. Sure and strong. Facing the audience.

Everyone behind the octet is in darkness, their heads bowed. They begin to move, performing moves in time with — and reflective of — the words of the music.

And as the music builds, the entire chorus also begins to sing.

We move into blocks of people. Lines.

We build walls.

We whisper warnings.

Eventually the music builds to a climax, and ends on a chord so uncomfortable it hangs in the air, full of suspension and tension. Audience members later told us that they found themselves holding their breath.

Then the solo voice — Sally — ends the song. The sound...

"...of silence," she sings.

And the whole chorus slowly drop their hands, their heads bow, and the stage falls into darkness.

It's nowhere near as powerful as watching it live, but I hope you enjoy following along with what I've described above.

When we were planning and preparing that song for performance, we had a lot of discussion about the meaning of the lyrics. What it meant for us, collectively and individually. How we wanted the audience to feel. What we might want them to reflect upon — or do — as a result of our performance. The events in the world, ongoing and real, that fitted the timbre of the song.

We talked about the cost of silence. It was sobering.

There's a saying: "Where words fail, music speaks."

That's how I felt about that song.

I would end it, live on stage, with my hands raised in the air, my voice choked, eyes brimming with tears. I felt the emotion of that song in every cell of my body when I performed it.

My job, actually, when performing that song, was to keep my emotion just enough under control that the audience could feel it — without my singing voice becoming unavailable to me. That is an ongoing challenge for any musician who uses their breath.

And a familiar one for those of us who carry the same sort of pressure in the work we do day to day.

Carrying important messages. Speaking up for causes we care passionately about. Influencing change. Persuading others. Voicing truth when the stakes are high.

The greatest challenge facing many leaders today is not finding their voice.

It's understanding the cost of silence — and working out how to keep their voice available when it matters most.

The way in which we performed The Sound of Silence matters greatly to me.

One voice.

Can become four voices. Can become eight. Can become a larger group. And that is how movement is created.

Never think that your one voice doesn't matter, or can't make a difference. If you ever doubt that, think of a mosquito in a room with a single person. Buzzing around. Impossible to ignore.

Your voice matters. In a world where change is required every which way we turn, it's the only real tool we have.

This is the companion piece to The Cost of Silence, where we explore the PowerVox idea that voice lives at the meeting point of two of our six dimensions — Signal and Conviction — and why strategic silence is not the same as self-abandonment.

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