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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

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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. 

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Featured Guest Artists

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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.

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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!

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Fall Schedule

August 29th, 2023 - alvin hill - "Audio-Visual Meditations"

September 5th - Community Week: Experiments in Improivsation

September 12th - The Regenerate Orchestra, Singing Circle

September 19th - Community Week: Visual Art Meditations

September 26th - Stephen Paul (trombone)

October 3rd - Jonah Parzen-Johnson & Barry Paul Clark: 'You're Never Really Alone'

October 10th - Community Week: Experiments in Improvisation

October 17th - **No Meeting* - Fall Break

October 274h - Adithya Sastry - Guitar and electronics

October 31st - Community Week

November 7th - OtherCast - 'ˆTales from New Time' +

                             Diego Patino - Double Bass Explorations

November 14th - Community Week

November 21st - Community Week

November 28th - Ben Miller - Multiphonic Guitar

December 5th - Molly Jones - Saxophone and Electronics

December 12th - Community Week

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Sound and Silence Podcast

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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

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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