'A fortuitous power outage muffled my living room the night I finished Silence, Music, Silent Music; plunged into a deep quiet that seemed alternately comforting and unnerving, I realized how much not just my perceptions but my awareness of those perceptions had been altered by having read this collection of essays. As one might expect, the material includes discussions of silence in the works of such familiar composers as Ives, Cage, Messiaen, and Takemitsu. But it also touches on silence in Japanese, Sufi, and Indian musical traditions, and - perhaps more intriguing - on the meanings of silence in meditation, therapy, and mystic philosophy. As a group, the contributors easily make the point that silence is no mere absence; on the contrary, it is a very real ’something’ that can be approached in richly different ways.' James Wierzbicki University of Michigan, USA ’... a long-awaited and most welcome addition to the literature... rich variety of the contributions...The diversity of chapters is impressive... The editors are to be congratulated on the care and attention that provides space to the voices of individual authors whilsst exploring underlying and potentially linking themes. The rich diversity is explored very successully...’ British Journal of Music Therapy