Blurring the Boundaries & The National accessArts Centre Presents:
Sound Ideas
Are you interested in exploring music and sound art? Would you like to create your own accessible digital musical instrument?
The National accessArts Centre is excited to offer a brand new in-person workshop series for NaAC artists to experiment with instrument creation and explore their musical expression. In partnership with Blurring the Boundaries, a disability-led organization spearheading major developments in accessible digital music technology, these workshops will focus on creating DIY musical instruments while encouraging fun and playful ways for artists to experiment with collaborative sound creation.
TUESDAYS | October 12 – November 9, 2021
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM MST
Registration FULL
These workshops are designed to be enjoyed by anyone and everyone, regardless of prior musical experience or knowledge. We’ll introduce you to new techniques, methods, and approaches, and all you need is a genuine curiosity and willingness to experiment! Each session will be split between instrument prototyping and time for prompted free-play.
Workshop Expectations:
- All materials will be provided
- Each artist will prototype their own musical surface
- Participants will experiment, collaborate, and play with sounds and music
- Participants will be introduced to new approaches to music and sound creation
- Artists will commit to attending all five workshops
- Workshops will be open-minded, friendly, and respectful!
ABOUT THE LEAD ARTISTS
Charles Matthews is a proudly Neurodivergent creative technologist who specializes in rapid prototyping of musical instruments in workshop settings. In past musical lives, he has released bass-heavy records as Ardisson and founded the Augmented Gamelan ensemble as part of his Ph.D. research in 2012.
Since 2015, Charles has worked as an associate artist with Drake Music: a UK organization focused on music technology and Disability, and a pioneer of accessible music hack events through its DMLab community. Recent projects include The Kellycaster, Planted Symphony, and Haptic Baton.
Having moved to Montreal shortly before lockdown, Charles’s efforts are now focused upon connecting online communities and resources with deep integration of access and Disabled lead. He was recently part of the Sync Leadership Quebec cohort and co-founded Blurring the Boundaries Arts with Gift Tshuma and David Bobier as an extension of their collaboration through the British Council’s New Conversations artistic exchange programme.
Gift Tshuma is a Montrealer born in Zimbabwe, doesn’t self-identify as your ordinary R&B Gospel singer. Gift is the co-founder and leader of his ensemble: United Tribulation Choir, which he founded twelve years ago. He is a strong supporter of diversity, and he extends his reach by singing in multiple languages and performing in a broad array of styles including beatboxing and live looping.
Gift carries with him more than fifteen years of experience as a professional artist, in addition to his academic background in music. He has trained in classical and jazz vocals and was mentored by Oliver Jones: a Montreal-based jazz pianist who was in turn trained by Oscar Peterson.
As a disability rights advocate and co-founding member of a grassroots group: Accessibilize Montreal, he has worked on numerous initiatives targeting discriminatory infrastructure, that stigmatizes and excludes people with diverse bodies and minds from public spaces.
