Conductive Music presented a paper during the Improvisation and Digital Arts Festival at Kingston University, focusing on the successful outcomes and lessons learned from our project during the 2013-2014 school year. We also gave a performance and lecture in the afternoon. We enjoyed great feedback from the audience and the interesting hexagonal concert space in Kingston’s sound lab.
Here’s the abstract of our paper:
The Conductive Music project, scheduled to occur in multiple sessions over the 20132014 academic year, is a workshop series designed to engage at risk urban youth in the construction and performance of
electronic drum synth instruments based on Makey Makey boards and household items such as kitchenware and fruit. The workshops incorporate software and hardware gained from the Open Source Software communities and techniques from drama and contemporary music notation. These activities impart positive skills through multimedia content delivery for all learning types. The Conductive Music project’s goal is to open up the world of electronic music performance to a new generation of young artists and to replace negative social behaviours with creative outlets for expression.