Hi Rachel,
I think you posted this image elsewhere, and iirc I commented then. To actually portray 'silent music' is not easy, I don't think you mentioned that concept in the other thread.
So, knowing a little about the piano, no notes are actually being pressed, but looks as if it may be an a+d, without counting the notes, looks as if its the octave below middle C, with left hand - where's the right one? The finger shadows look odd, so on & so forth.
Silent music - guitar without strings, guitar player with no hands, listener with no ears, piano with lid down, maybe music staves with no notes, a silk scarf draped over the keys, I don't know. That's your job.
I see this more as someone about to play, expectation, not silence. I can not relate it to your descriptive paragraph.
But, as I implied earlier, it is sort of catch 22, if you are not meant to be heard, how do you know I'm not hearing you - do you shout louder?
Best wishes,
Ray
PS, I have an image in my mind of a gnarled old hand, whittling a piano key into something else, maybe a flute, or perhaps a splint for a broken finger as a result of the lid falling - revenge is a dish best served cold..... even to pianos.