Piping Down in Cremona

Cremona, Italy

I have written many times about silence as both a spiritual practice and environmental issue in my Lion Lamb and Groundling blogs. There are environmentalists who regard noise as the least recognized form of pollution, which can have serious effects on our health and wellbeing.

I'm quite taken by a project in Cremona, Italy, which requires the population of 70,000 to "pipe down' for a month. Since January, a team of musicians and professional sound engineers have been recording the incomparable sound of Antonio Stradivari's violins as well as historic instruments crafted by Nicolò Amati and Guarneri del Gesù. The "Stradivarius Sound Bank" is born both out of a love for the instruments, and a commercial need, Leonardo Tedeschi says. According to a CBC report:

The project's 32 ultra-sensitive microphones can pick up even the smallest vibrations from the earth beneath the building.
"We have, very close to the auditorium, this piece of road that is made in cobblestone and the vibration of the cars passing by actually gets in our recording," said Tedeschi, a former DJ and the co-founder of Audiozone Studios.
Until the end of next week, the streets around the auditorium are closed off to traffic, the town's mayor has deployed police to shush noise-makers, and stilettos are all but forbidden on local cobblestone roads. "If high heels pass by, we will hear it," he said.
Asking an entire town to be quiet for more than a month might seem like a stretch, but according to Tedeschi, the residents have been receptive to the project.
"They are really kind with us doing this quiet period for the greater good," he said.

It got me wondering what it would take in most communities, large or small, to get people to consciously be quiet for even an hour, let alone a month.
What would the outcome for body, mind, and spirit be if there was a communal effort to choose silence?
Would participants have a sense of heightened awareness of the "sound of sheer silence," or would they just be annoyed?

 It's unlikely that we'll ever know. It's difficult enough to find a place of quiet when we move away from communities, let alone within them. I've always found it a challenge to get congregants to quiet down for even a minute in worship.

Congratulations to the residents of Cremona!