Silence = Space = Breath = Essence = Lived experience = Becoming

Silence expresses what does not yet exist, and at the same time it authenticates what has existed. It is the space between one phrase and the next, the space to live to the fullest and the space to chase down and attack. It is the breath of phrases, and without it we would collapse.

I never see it as a full stop. Never. I see it more as a comma:

While Luca jumps an obstacle falls.
While Luca jumps, an obstacle falls. Now the sentence makes more sense.
While Luca jumps an obstacle, he falls. Now it means something else.

Space, like the comma, gives sentences their meaning, and it is the means by which the musician can decide that the music should take one direction rather than another. Silence authenticates what has been and generates, or defines, what will be.

I would say that today we express ourselves more easily and more often, though that depends on each person's character.

It is sometimes hard to find the right words, and it is even harder to be silent. To stretch the pauses, play less, say more. That takes real courage. And above all I find this is not the road to "making it" (whatever that means), at least not here where I am.

But today I should, or would like to, raise another question: does silence really exist?