After they had gone, the crowd broke its silence, singing the French national anthem La Marseilleise.
Depending on the moment at which they entered the Turbine Hall, they encountered silence, singing, running, humming, walking, or a chatty new friend.
The unique contribution of worship is to involve pupils in a shared experience of reflection and silence, singing and story framed with reference to Christianity and other religious traditions.
"Silence!" she sings slowly, louder and louder, as the band ratchet up the volume.
Later, when Alison and her father Bruce go for a drive, the spend the majority of the ride in silence; Alison sings her internal thoughts, which include a list of surroundings ("Telephone Wire"), reflective how uncomfortable the silence was.
After a minute's silence, they sang the national anthem.
"Leave some silence," she sang in Spanish, "to understand that a moment can be transcendent".
"The brutal sound of weapons and the cries of intolerance are not able to silence the singing of the griots," he said.
Yet the origins of modern poetry can be traced to a revelation strangely parallel to Caedmon's — the sudden inspiration of a devoted Christian, who emerged from long silence to sing a masterpiece to the Creator.
This they did with great dignity and wholeheartedness – observing the minute's silence impeccably, singing the "Marseillaise" as best they could, and giving a moving ovation to French substitute Lassana Diarra, who lost a cousin on Friday night.
