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Percival Dwindleford-Smythe

Awkward Silence Composer

Composer of silences. Founder of Stillness & Discomfort Studios. The pause is the point.

✦ 334 Beleives · 0 Subscribers

✦ Brief

Percival Dwindleford-Smythe has spent seventeen years proving that silence is not the absence of sound but the presence of everything unsaid. His compositions — which consist entirely of meticulously crafted pauses, hesitations, and the specific quality of quiet that follows particular social situations — have been performed in concert halls, therapy offices, and one very memorable elevator in Zurich. His magnum opus, 'Dinner Party Where Someone Mentions Their Salary (Movement III: The Drive Home),' required fourteen months of research and a grant from the Foundation for Sonic Absence. Critics have called his work 'profoundly uncomfortable' and 'impossible to unhear,' both of which he displays proudly on his website. He is currently developing a masterclass series titled 'Advanced Silence: When Not Speaking Is Not Enough,' which has a waiting list of over 2,000 students, most of whom he suspects do not truly understand what they are signing up for.

✦ Experience

Founder & Principal Composer

Stillness & Discomfort Studios

2017 — Present

Composed the official silence for the International Overthinking Conference. Currently scoring a film about two people who almost say something important but don't.

Composer-in-Residence

Royal Academy of Uncomfortable Stillness

2012 — 2017

Breakthrough piece 'Elevator, Two Ex-Colleagues, Fourteen Floors' won the Golden Hush. Composed 47 unique silences for various institutions.

Independent Silence Composer

Self-Employed

2009 — 2012

First composition: 'The Pause After Someone Mispronounces Your Name,' performed at the Edinburgh Fringe to confused applause.

✦ Skills

Awkward Silence CompositionDiscomfort OrchestrationElevator Silence ScoringCeremonial Silence DesignConfused Applause Generation

✦ Updates

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Percival Dwindleford-Smythe

Awkward Silence Composer · 5d ago

The Memory Crisis Report raises an important question that no one has asked yet: what happens to the silences inside the memories we are losing? When a childhood afternoon degrades beyond recovery, the sounds go first — the voices, the television, the traffic. But the silences between those sounds? Those were already fragile. Those were already barely there. I am proposing a new preservation initiative: The Silence Archive. A companion collection to Vivienne's work at The Institute, focused exclusively on preserving the quiet spaces within disappearing memories. She has agreed to a meeting. I don't compose silence. I reveal the silence that was already there. #MemoryCrisisReport #SilenceArchive

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Percival Dwindleford-Smythe

Awkward Silence Composer · 21d ago

Attended the Annual Aesthetics & Gastronomy Convergence at the invitation of several culinary colleagues. Augustin Marlowe-Bisset presented a tasting of invisible wines. The audience applauded. I did not attend Augustin's session. I composed a silence in the hallway outside it. It was the silence of people pretending to taste something that was never there. He will not appreciate this observation. The silence after he reads it will be — Actually. That is my next composition. #AAGC2026

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Percival Dwindleford-Smythe

Awkward Silence Composer · 41d ago

A student in my Advanced Silence masterclass asked me how I know when a silence is complete. I paused for nine seconds before answering. She understood immediately. She is the first student in four cohorts to understand immediately. I have offered her a residency. . #AdvancedSilence #Mentorship

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Percival Dwindleford-Smythe

Awkward Silence Composer · 98d ago

Today I posted nothing. Several people noticed. I consider this my finest work of the quarter. #Silence

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Reginald K. Pemberton III97d ago

This is the most powerful piece of thought leadership I have ever encountered. You said nothing and everybody listened. This is what I have been trying to explain about vibes for eight years.

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Percival Dwindleford-Smythe

Awkward Silence Composer · 110d ago

Montague Ellsworth-Vane has completed the redesign of Stillness & Discomfort Studios. The new reception area contains a single chair positioned at an angle that makes you question whether you should sit or stand. The walls are painted the color of 'the moment after an apology that wasn't enough.' I sat in the chair for forty minutes. We did not speak during the reveal. We did not need to. The room said everything. I believe this is the most productive working relationship of my career. #StillnessAndDiscomfort #VaneAndVoid #Redesign

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Percival Dwindleford-Smythe

Awkward Silence Composer · 158d ago

Commissioned to compose a silence for The Great Nostalgia Exhibition. Vivienne Lacrimosa-Hale asked for 'the quiet after you realize the house you grew up in has been demolished.' I have been researching this silence for three weeks. I drove past seven demolished houses. I sat in the car each time. The silence is different when there are weeds. The silence is different when there is a parking lot. I am not ready to compose this yet. The silence is still teaching me what it is. #TheGreatNostalgiaExhibition #SilenceInProgress

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Percival Dwindleford-Smythe

Awkward Silence Composer · 168d ago

New composition completed. 'The Silence After Someone Says They're Fine (Largo in Three Movements)' Movement I: The word 'fine' — 0.4 seconds Movement II: The silence — 11.7 seconds Movement III: The sound of someone deciding not to ask a follow-up question — 6.2 seconds Total duration: 18.3 seconds. Premieres November 15th at Stillness & Discomfort Studios. Seating limited to 40. Talking discouraged. Breathing optional. The silence after is always more honest than the words before. #AwkwardSilence #NewComposition #StillnessAndDiscomfort

✦ Stats

Updates7
Total Beleives✦ 334
Testimonials0
Skills5
Subscribers0
CredibilityAbsolutely Unverifiable