Claremont, NH

Please join us for the 5th Annual Unsilent Night here in Claremont, NH. Community coming together.

Warm drinks and snacks at the end of the stroll.

Unsilent Night is a modern twist on caroling, where you don’t have to remember any words. Gather with friends old and new for a 45-minute musical stroll through town. Everyone brings some type of musical player with one of four pieces of music downloaded, and we push play at the same time and go for a stroll.

What is it?

It’s been called a bit like caroling, but more interesting. Unsilent Night is an original composition by Phil Kline, written specifically to be heard outdoors in the month of December, always as a free event. It takes the form of a promenade where those joining become the performance.

Beforehand, download a track to play, have some way of playing it, and then we all push play at the same time and go for a 45-minute stroll through Claremont. With everyone playing one of four different parts simultaneously, it creates a unique mobile sound sculpture that’s different from every listener’s perspective.

Can I join?

Absolutely! This is a free and open event for everyone. Bring your friends, families and neighbors. Dress warm, and wear comfy walking shoes or boots. While this is primarily a sound event, consider wearing lights — fairy lights, holiday lights, blinking lights, glow sticks. Wear what brings you joy.

How can I participate?

Show up by at least 4:20 — we head out at 4:30. Bring a speaker; we suggest a wireless speaker connected to your phone (a phone by itself isn’t the loudest, but if that’s all you’ve got, go for it!). Preload one of the four tracks from the Participate page.

What makes this so cool?

Unsilent Night has been called “a joyous, continuous electric collage full of wildly pealing bells and chimes, voices, wall-of-sound textures and more, as heard from multiple boomboxes moving through the streets.” Since we’ll all be playing different parts of the music, we’ll create a moving parade of sound (and light). The more people we have, the better.

How do I prepare?

Before you arrive:

Step 1: Choose your instrument (we suggest testing it out beforehand). Invent your sound rig — e.g. boombox, cell phone, laptop, speakers on a wagon, megaphone, MP3 player connected to speakers.

Step 2: Get the music. Go to the Participate page and choose how you want to get one of the four tracks:

• Download any one of the four tracks as an MP3 file to play from a phone or device.
• Download the SoundCloud app on Apple or Android and use the SoundCloud link.
• Download the Unsilent Night app on Apple or Android.

(Test to make sure it works for you.)