In the early modern period, music was related both to high status and institutions of power, since it was heavily associated with royal and ecclesiastical projections of authority. Urban spaces were places where power was negotiated through rituals and events in which music played an essential, solemnifying role. Female convents used sounds to contribute to the political life of a city and its ceremonial; this overlap of music, power, and religious life was thus embedded in the expectations and perceptions of the public. This article assesses the role of nunneries in the political life of early modern Iberian cities, considering their relationship to government institutions, royalty, the church hierarchy, and the nobility. The musical activities organised inside the cloister acquired a political tone by hosting civic dignitaries. Likewise, music might be performed around convent buildings in ways which actively sought to project sound towards the outside world, allowing nuns to participate in urban ceremonies. More rarely, music was performed directly outside the convent space. This article therefore focuses on this inside-outside dichotomy, offering examples to illustrate the different strategies used by nunneries in order to reach their urban surroundings through sounds.