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SOUND & SILENCE
Experiments in Contemplative Music
and Contemplative Silence

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Tuesdays, 7pm, at Canterbury House (721 E Huron St, Ann Arbor)
Simple soup supper to follow

Every religious tradition has a relationship with silence.  Even a secular perspective on the world can find studies noting the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. Come join a diverse and growing community of people who have in common an interest in engaging the practice of silence in a group setting. 

 

Community Weeks

Our weekly community decides what we do on these weeks. It often looks like this: 

 

We sit in silence for 15 - 25 minutes, explore listening and active sound-making as it relates to our contemplative practices, and eat (free) dinner together. Participants are invited to bring an instrument/sound-making device for these sessions, which often involves a pseudo-jam session on either end of our silent period.

If you have an idea for a sound experiment, bring it to the group!

Featured Guest Artists

Twice a month we will invite an artist to join us whose work deals with the themes of contemplative music, contemplative silence, and how music can prepare us for an encounter with silence.  In the past these performances have ranged from drone music, to an improvised string quartet, to a violin piece with a backtrack made in part from the sounds of ice cracking on the Great Lakes.

2024 Schedule

January 16th - Astro Mystic Sama Ensemble

January 23rd - Community Night: Water and Ice ❄️💧

January 30th - Community Night: Student Art Exhibit 

February 6th - FLYDLPHN sextet

February 13th - Ravish Momin - Electronic drum-set

February 20th - Community Night - Spirituality and Ethics Discussion

February 27th - No meeting

March 5th - Community Night - Breath

March 12th - Sophiyah E. Sonic Redemption

March 19th - Sasha Gusikhin + Cameron Wilson;

                        Josh Cheng + Diego Patino + Evan Magill

March 26th - King Sophia - Cello + Electronics

April 2nd - Community Night - AudioVisual Art-making

April 9th - U-M Creative Arts Orchestra; led by Marcus Elliot

April 16th - Community Night - Guest Teacher: Stephen Rush

April 23rd - Cameron Wilson - Drums + electronics

April 30th - Community Night - Sound of Wood

June 5th - Community Night - Sound and Silence in Detroit

 - led by Mirrored Glass Ensemble at Scarab Club

Sound and Silence Podcast

Before each performance, we talk with our guest artists about their musical and contemplative experiences and influences. On our podcast you can get to know the artists better as well hear excerpts of their live performances at Sound and Silence.

Previous Guest Artists

December 2023 - Molly Jones - Saxophone and Electronics

November 2023 - Ben Miller - Multiphonic Guitar

November 2023 - OtherCast - 'ˆTales from New Time' +

                             Diego Patino - Double Bass Explorations

October 2023 - Adithya Sastry - Guitar and electronics

October 2023 - Jonah Parzen-Johnson & Barry Paul Clark: 'You're Never Really Alone'

September 2023- Stephen Paul (trombone)

September 2023- The Regenerate Orchestra, Singing Circle

August 2023 - alvin hill - "Audio-Visual Meditations"

April 2023 - Nicholas Felder, excerpts from selected works

April 2023 - Ravish Momin, "Sunken Cages"

March 2023 - Marcus Elliot, "Creation Codes"

February 2023 - Jonathan Barahal Taylor, "root beneath bones"

January 2023 - Alexis Lamb, "in the case of a title"

December 2022 - Kaysen Mortensen-Chown

November 2022 - Sam Uribe Botero

October 2022 - Ana Hernandez

September 2022 - Jane Rogers, "The Book of Order"

April 2022 - Matthew Dallas, "Tower Hill"

March 2022 - Cameron Wilson, "Songs from the Paper Birch"

February 2022 - Kaysen Mortensen-Chown

November 2021 - Akari Komura, "In the Language of the Bloom"

October 2021 - Chris Sies

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