About Silence In Sound
More Than 40 Years of Listening, Learning and Exploration
Silence In Sound is an independent specialist sound studio and creative sound education centre based in Machynlleth, Mid Wales.
Founded by Craig and Jacquie Shankster, our work has grown from more than four decades of practical involvement with Himalayan Singing Bowls, Gongs and resonant sound instruments.
Today, Silence In Sound has two closely connected but deliberately different roles:
helping people find exceptional instruments
and
helping serious practitioners develop their craft.
Exceptional Instruments
Our collection includes individually selected Himalayan Singing Bowls, Original Singing Gongs and specialist resonant instruments, chosen for their tone, responsiveness, sustain and individual acoustic character.
We believe choosing an instrument should remain a personal process.
Our role is not to tell you what you should buy. We provide accurate information, individual recordings wherever possible and knowledgeable guidance when requested, allowing you to listen, compare and make your own decision.
Only part of our collection is available online. A much wider selection can be explored during a Private Studio Visit in Machynlleth.
Serious Creative Sound Education
Our teaching takes a different approach.
Silence In Sound workshops are for practitioners who want to go beyond collecting techniques and genuinely develop their understanding, control, listening and creative judgement.
We begin with the instrument itself: how it responds, how sound is created and controlled, and how changes in touch, movement, pressure, mallets and technique affect what we hear and feel.
From there we explore resonance, overtones, sustain, decay, silence, interaction between instruments and the structure of a developing soundscape.
The objective is not to give students a sequence to reproduce.
It is to help them develop the skill and confidence to create something recognisably their own.
Explore Creative Sound Workshops
Experience Without Mythology
We are fascinated by the history, culture and continuing evolution of resonant sound instruments, but we also believe that extraordinary instruments do not need extraordinary stories attached to them.
We respect genuine cultural tradition and historical evidence while distinguishing these from modern interpretation, personal experience and unsupported claims.
Where something is known, we value accuracy.
Where something is experiential, we are comfortable describing it as experience.
And where we do not know, we are equally comfortable saying so.
For us, there is already enough wonder to be found in craftsmanship, acoustics, vibration, resonance and the act of listening itself.
This approach forms part of The Resonant Middle Way, the teaching philosophy at the heart of Silence In Sound.
Discover The Resonant Middle Way
Craig & Jacquie
Craig leads much of the creative, technical and educational direction of Silence In Sound, drawing upon more than 40 years of practical experience with Singing Bowls, Gongs and creative sound.
His particular interest lies in how instruments behave, how sounds interact and how technique, listening and composition can develop into a distinctive personal soundscape.
Jacquie brings her own practical experience together with an instinctive understanding of people, instruments and the environment in which listening takes place. She plays an important role in shaping the personal, calm and unhurried character of the studio and our workshops.
Together, we continue to listen, experiment, question and learn.
We do not believe that experience means having all the answers.
It means having spent enough time with the questions to know which ones are worth asking.
Our Approach
Silence In Sound is independent of any religious or spiritual organisation and welcomes people of all backgrounds and beliefs.
Whether you come to us to find an instrument or to develop your creative practice, our approach remains grounded in the same principles:
Listen carefully.
Understand what you are doing.
Question what you think you know.
Develop your craft.
Create something of your own.