Today is "No Music Day"

BBC News: How No Music Day struck a chord.

No Music Day is on the 21 November. This is the third year to have one.  The first in 2005 was almost a private affair. Other than me [former KLF frontman Bill Drummond] sorting out in my head why I needed a No Music Day and why having it on the 21 November was a better day than any of the other 364 on offer, not much was done.  The reason for choosing the 21st is that the 22nd is St Cecilia's day and St Cecilia being the patron saint of music, there seemed a logic that we fast from music on the day before we may traditionally have celebrated and given thanks for music.  The not much being done was the setting up of nomusicday.com

The website struck a massive chord. Tens of thousands of folk stumbled across it, many leaving comments.  For No Music Day 2006, I went public by writing a piece for a monthly music magazine. In this I laid out all my reasoning and prejudices as to why I thought we needed to address our culture's evolving relationship with music and why having a No Music Day would be a good way to focus that debate.

I had never heard of No Music Day.  I play the radio or a CD in the car on the way to work, and a co-worker in my shared office plays the radio all day.  She doesn't work Fridays and the radio stays off that day, it is a pleasant change.  I also have an iPod to listen to at work.  The radio is off today because she's working from home and I enjoy my radio-free days.  The iPod will stay in my bag.

But we have a largely silent home.  You can't hear the neighbours from inside the house (it's detached and on a corner).  When I get home, I surf the internet in silence.  We sometimes play a track to each other that really stands out, but we live in a very quiet house.

Reading the statements on the website is fascinating: "I am (or am not) observing No Music Day because" and "I will (or will not) be observing No Music Day by".  I really like the idea of a one day fast from music.