http://www.canterburyhouse.org/

Canterbury House, 721 E Huron Street, Ann Arbor, MI (2026)

05/01/2024

Dear friends, we are hiring!
We are looking to fill our Sound and Silence coordinator/booking position. Link in bio for for application/info 😀

The Sound and Silence Coordinator works 4 - 10 hours a week and handles administrative responsibilities required by the variety of different types Guest Artist and Community Night events. 📕💻🥳

QUALIFICATIONS �
- Ability to manage multiple email timelines and communication threads �
- Clear interest in the power of sound, art, spirituality and social justice in creating meaningful�communal experiences �
- Understands the power of silence to positively affect mental health �
- Current University of Michigan student

No background in music or spirituality is needed to apply. Deadline to apply is May 20th. Interviews will be in early June, and notifications are sent out by June 20th. $20 /hr for remote + in person work.
�
ALSO the last sound and Silence was so tender! Making sound outside is always a good time, especially when combined with a potluck, a celebration of Matthew Lukens' amazing presence in our community, and a friendly game of egg toss. 🌳🥚

Thank you everyone for making this year a HUUUGE SUCCESS! If you attended our events, please consider filling out the feedback survey in our bio so we can make next year even better! Stay tuned for announcements + content (videos and podcasts coming sooooon) 🛎️🎉

04/25/2024

One more sound and silence of the semester, this tuesday 4/30!!

This is a special OUTSIDE edition: Meet us at the Nichols Arboretum Amphitheater at 7 PM - see attached map. We will open our ears and converse with the sounds of wind, birds, plants, humans, and more! Bring an instrument for a free improv jam + listening session (wooden sounds encouraged so we can talk to trees).

ALSO!! there’s a super secret SURPRISE sound and silence at this friday for U-M students! Take a break from your studying to experiment with live improvised painting, sound-making, and shared silence. This friday at 7:30 PM. Facilitated by .of_body.soul and , and featuring student musicians .p

We will return to Sound and Silence in late August - stay tuned for exciting updates and media coming your way!

04/12/2024

THREE SOUND AND SILENCES LEFT!!
April 16th 7 PM - Community Night - Guest Teacher
U-M Performing Arts Technology professor Stephen Rush leads a Sonic Meditation, with a discussion on spiritual practices at 8 PM. Bring an instrument if you have one for an open improvisation, and we also will have sound-making devices that anyone can play - no experience required.

7 PM Sound
8 - 8:25 PM dinner + discussion

Stephen Rush is a renowned composer, educator and scholar and a Distinguish Professor of Music at the University of Michigan. He has taught in the departments of music composition, theory, dance, technology, music education and jazz. He received the Teaching Innovation Prize for the coordination of the “Creative Process Course,” taught to over 600 students, and has brought over 150 students to India to study music, dance and yoga.
A prolific composer, he has seven operas and six symphonies, and performed and recorded worldwide. His most recent work is a video opera comprised of hiphop beats, string quartet, and sung transcriptions of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr, in a fictional dialogue about their trips to Mecca and India, respectively.
Rush has won the Smithsonian award for Innovation in Technology, and is a member of the Faculty Senate Subcomittee for Anti-Racism. He is the author of a new book on anti-racist and gender-inclusive music fundamentals, the first of its kind.

There will be 15-20 minutes of complete silence, and vegetarian dinner. Steve is foundational to the creation of Sound and Silence, so it's very special that we get to receive teachings from him - see you there!

03/28/2024

This Tuesday at 7 PM - Audiovisual art night 👂👁️🖼️
Musicians and visual artist engage in silent conversation though improvisational 🎨 art-making and 🔔sound-making. Let’s experiment, collaborate, and celebrate! 🎉

Musicians bring an instrument - art supplies provided for all to use. Simple Soup Supper to follow.

03/18/2024

Brrrr winter is back 🥶🧊 come hang out and be cozy 😊🍵TOMORROW, March 19th! It will be an evening of Improvised and semi-improvised music, manifested via Trumpet, Double Bass, Synthesizer, Flute, and Drums. Five Sound-makers - what a treat!

Featuring Josh Cheng + Diego Patiño + Evan Magill; Sasha Gusikhin + Cameron Wilson.
[

gusikmusic]

There will be vibrational sound and non-sound (silence). wait. 🧐 can there be vibrations without any sound?? 🤔 Contemplate this during our contemplative music series🕯️

03/12/2024

💠 March 12th - Sophiyah E. - 'Sonic Redemption'
Sonic Redemption visits the vibration of reclamation, honoring, and energetic exchange rooted in identifying the process of nourishing our soul in today’s world.

💠 March 19th - Josh Cheng + Diego Patiño + Evan Magill; Sasha Gusikhin + Cameron Wilson
An evening of Improvised and semi-improvised music, manifested via Trumpet, Bass, Synthesizer, Flute, + Drums.

💠 March 26th - King Sophia ()
A guided sonic journey through the different parts of the body portrayed by electronically augmented cello sounds.

💠 April 2nd - Community Night - Sound of Wood
How can we talk to Trees? Through sound of course! Come resonate with us and contemplate those who give us oxygen to breathe and cool our air. Musicians bring an instrument (and maybe some tree branches) for an open jam session.

💠 April 9th - U-M Creative Arts Orchestra | Directed by Marcus Elliot
CAO is a student ensemble dedicated to open improvisation and composition, drawing inspiration from forward thinking luminaries such as Anthony Braxton, Pauline Oliveros, Sun Ra, among others, as they collectively craft, explore, and create diverse soundscapes.

💠 April 16th - Community Night - Guest Teacher
Stephen Rush leads a Sonic Meditation, with a discussion on spiritual practices at 8 PM. Bring a sound-making device for open improvisation - no experience required.

💠 April 23rd - Cameron Wilson (.music) - Drums + electronics
Cameron presents a series of ‘drum songs,’ reflecting on the moment of being born into the physical world through meditative rhythmic drones and electronics.

💠 April 30th - Community Night - Sound and Silence Outside
That’s right, we’re goin to the woods! Location of woods TBA (hopefully the Arboretum)

A free vegetarian dinner is served at 8 PM every night. See you there for some immersive sound-experiences!

03/07/2024

This Tuesday at 7 PM we are joined by the brilliant mind and heart of Sophiyah E., presenting ‘Sonic Redemption’ !✨

🎹Detroit native Sophiyah Elizabeth draws inspiration from the desire to raise awareness surrounding liberation and spiritual reverence. Through community organizing and sonic productions, the singer/composer intertwines ancestral influence & multi-sensory storytelling to convey messages of empowerment.

🌱Sonic Redemption visits the vibration of reclamation, honoring, and energetic exchange rooted in identifying the process of nourishing our soul in today’s world. Genre: Electric Root Music ⚡️

🌀Come have a cup of tea, relax, and enjoy sounds + 5-10 minutes of silence in a group setting. 🫕 Free Vegetarian dinner at 8 PM.

02/15/2024

This Tuesday at 7 PM:
✨Sound and Silence Community Night: Spirituality and Ethics

Our 20-minute silent period on community nights is usually left unprompted, but this week participants will be invited to explore how our inner practices are in conversation with the outer world. 🌎

🤔 Some questions we are contemplating:
- How can we use our spiritual practices as a way to care for ourselves/our community, and to connect that care to our work for justice in the world?
- Where are the places of our collective grief right now?
- How can we hold and support each other amidst hardship and suffering?

This event will be led by Canterbury’s chaplain, Matthew Lukens, and for me (Cameron) it represents the core of why we do this program. These spiritual practices are tools for liberation - and the individual practice of cultivating stillness, love, joy etc. is essential to social liberation. This is also why it's important to have a space for silent practice alongside other humans: it allows to support each other and shape our collective intentions. 🫶

🔔 We welcome and encourage any sound-making as an expression of your spirit and/or personhood! We would love if you would bring an instrument and improvise with us directly after our silent period - our sound-making can be a tool to explore/meditate on our inner landscape, our grief, hope for the world, or any feeling of the moment.

🥣 Vegetarian food + discussion will follow at 8 PM. There will be no meeting on Feb 27th due to Spring break.

See you there!
📸 Ackeem Salmon

02/11/2024

We are excited to welcome Ravish Momin of Sunken Cages back to Sound and Silence on Feb 13th at 7 PM! 🥁🥳

Momin plays electronic and acoustic drums, invokes ritual chants, and triggers melodies and textures. He also layers loops while manipulating them in real-time to blur the lines between composition and improvisation. While rooted in Indian and Black Music traditions, he is also influenced by the street sounds of contemporary dance music.

He will be joined by percussionist/electronicist Cameron Wilson (.music) and U-M Music Tech Professors Jeremy Edwards and Steve Rush. There be tones, grooves, and 5 - 10 minutes of complete silence. 💃🤫💻 Dinner served at 8 PM.

01/25/2024

Memorialize and Remember:
Grey Rose Grant's folk opera "Little Histories" explores the death ritual. We spoke to the University of Michigan grad, librettist-composer-performer, and co-founder of Fifth Wall Performing Arts about their latest work, which premieres January 26-28 at Canterbury House in Ann Arbor.

https://pulp.aadl.org/node/625962

a2pulp.org

01/21/2024

Water is where is where life on Earth began, and is what makes life possible and full. Let’s contemplate water together this Tuesday at 7! 🌊🌊

Soundscapes to be heard and made:
1. Waves
2. Snow
3. Ice
4. Dripping
5. Flowing
6. [Silence]

There will be interactive water intstallations! Dripping, flowing, reverberating. And projections!
Imagine you’re underneath a water fall, inside of a glacier, but you’re just sitting at Canterbury House all snug and cozy. Jam session included.
curated by Cameron Wilson

P.S. Can someone bring ice cubes? Thanks. And any other water sounds you want. 🧊

We love you water!!!

01/17/2024

Little Histories premiers January 26th and 27th at 8 PM and January 28th at 1 PM at Canterbury House!

Follow Fifth Wall Performing Arts for a mesmerizing journey through life, death, and the rituals that bind us. Little Histories intertwines personal narratives with grand, historical tales as grandmothers transform into trees, and Icarus takes on the life of a morose mortician, while exploring the profound themes of death, memory, and impermanence. 🌌

Tickets and info: https://ticketstripe.com/events/1038623

Canterbury House