Snow Day Sounds
I woke up this morning to that particular kind of quiet that only comes with a huge blanket of snow in New England. I didn’t set an alarm (bliss), and I sort of just roused with the light peeking in the window. Our house has everyone home, including my oldest, who’s in college, but it was as quiet as it ever is in the morning.
Since I’ve been at Pakachoag Music School, I’ve become more attuned to the “music” around us: in our halls, in our homes… really all of the sounds that make up our environments. And the thing about snow days: it’s quieter. Far quieter.
No cars driving by. People huddled up in homes. No dog walkers. No sirens.
It’s the absence of sound that makes up the snow day music.
Two Kinds of Quiet
For some, this quiet is welcome, possibly even exciting. For kids: SNOW DAY! Parents might groan, but maybe it’s a needed break from the routines. My family played board games, and part of our snow day music was laughter; I’ll remember that fondly for a while.
I grew up in South Carolina, where snow days were rare—every 2-3 years rare. When we were gifted an inch of snow that would shut things down for a few snow-wimpy days, it was awesome. Magical, really. We knew something was fantastically odd about it. And then we’d try to sled in the mud.
For others, snow days can be melancholy or maybe its less-bad cousin, pensive. Stark. Everything blanketed. Landscapes lose their shapes, along with cars and other items that orient us. Houses are chilly. It can put you in a certain mood.
Both responses make sense. The question is: what do you do with the quiet?
The Physics
There’s science behind what we’re experiencing. Fresh snow traps sound waves. (Confession: I looked that up.) It’s a soundproofing of sorts, one of the most effective natural sound absorbers we encounter. No wonder it gets so quiet.
For musicians and people with attentive ears, this creates an unusual listening environment. Everything sounds closer, more intimate. If you practice on a snow day, your instrument could feel and sound different… maybe warmer, maybe more isolated.
Some find this energizing. Finally, you consider, there’s space to think, to hear myself clearly.
Others find it unsettling. The absence of ambient sound can feel like pressure or loneliness. Here’s hoping that’s not the case for any of you readers.
So What’s the Right Music?
I’ve been thinking about what I’ve turned to these last two days. What mood have I leaned into when the world outside has gone so quiet?
Cozy: Solo piano, for sure. Satie’s Gymnopédies, Chopin’s nocturnes. If you don’t know the jazz pianist Hiromi, please do yourself a favor and check out Blackbird.
Contemplative: Debussy’s Clair de Lune or any other music that seems to extend the quiet rather than break it.
Energized: If you have kids, maybe this is KPop Demon Hunter. This is when some students finally tackle that challenging piece. Or, the parents finally make them tackle that challenging piece. : )
Nostalgic: Whatever takes you back to childhood snow days. You native New Englanders will be better at this one.
Or, and this might be the most interesting option, silent: Just sitting with the quiet, coffee or tea in hand, doing business with your thoughts. Maybe you’re thinking about rest, about space, or life’s pauses.
I’ve been thinking about our Pakachoag families today. We’ve turned the corner in the program year. Now we’re downhill until May. Some students are probably:
Excited to have all day to practice without pressure
Sad to miss their lesson (we can hope 😀)
Relieved to have a break from their packed schedule
Actually feeling a little lost without structure
All of those responses are legit. The snow day reserves no judgment. It just is, and we all tackle it the best way we know how, shovel in hand, or if you’re smart, a snowblower.
It’s an unscheduled rest, a pause we didn’t expect but maybe needed.
A Question
Do you have a snow day soundtrack? Or, are you sitting in the silence?
I’d love to know what fits this particular kind of quiet for you. Leave a comment below. Give me that one great snow day song. Are you practicing, or are you giving yourself permission to rest? Are you filling the space with music, or letting the snow silence do its work?
Note by note,
Nick
