Since winning the Sound and Music / Composer Curator award in 2022 I have worked to develop community music making and composing methods that draw on ambient composing techniques and use a variety of accessible instruments.
I've always been attracted to how democratic and accessible ambient, noise, or experimental music could be, and felt it was an ideal way to make music that was unique and characterful whilst also being inclusive.
I wanted to be able to walk into a room of young people who might have profound physical, mental or confidence barriers to making music, and allow them to leave an hour later having composed something together.
In projects for Arts Council and Historic England, I have worked with this approach alongside young people who were neurodiverse or identified as disabled, and who were new to music making. Having taught more conventional music and songwriting lessons in the past, I wanted to develop a method of working that asked:-
- What if people could play along just by waving a hand?
- What if someone could play along by humming, or beat boxing?
- What if we could draw a picture and turn the shape into music?
- What if someone could play a clip of their favourite song on a phone and immediately chop, slow, extend, pitch up or down or otherwise re-arrange it into something unique?
Pulling together a number of custom-made, commercial and open source software, I've created an experimental music-making 'trolley'. This includes a variety of sampling, tape manipulation and gesture based instruments.
Some videos and photographs of me working with various technologies with young people are below.
Video examples!
Pianos and keyboards - playing complex motifs with simple gestures:
In this video Johnny uses a keyboard with a software that can lock his playing to a key, making it impossible to play a wrong note. He can also play a series of motifs and sequences in a variety of musical styles by holding various notes. He can also play a full chord or several chord inversions or variations with a single finger and key press.
Meanwhile, Nathan plays his guitar through a software that adjusts his playing to the nearest key.
Playing drums by beatboxing:
In this video Hayden plays a sample pack of drums on a track by beatboxing. He only needs to say 'dum' and 'tish' to activate a drum kit.
Playing violins by humming:
In this video Lexi hums a brass track. She can hum any melody and it will be turned into expressive brass that fits the key of the work.
Playing patterns by pressing light up buttons on a grid:
This video shows the Monome Norns open source software - this has a plethora of ways to play musical patterns or to manipulate audio. Anyone performing with it can play with the light up buttons to draw patterns, or press notes. There are a huge number of possibilities, here we are using it to play a musical pattern, where buttons on the grid are pressed and light up. These then play notes in a sequence.
Playing music with movement:
In this video Alanna plays a collection of electric piano notes by moving her hand up and down. The software recognises her gestures both moving up and down and turning side to side, and converts them into musical notes or chords.
