Sound Sculpture: The Sonic Tree and Sonic Stairway feature as a pop up interactive exhibit at a learning disabled music event
Sound Sculpture: A new project exploring homemade instruments with a group of musicians with learning disabilities. The Carousel House Band is an integrated group from Brighton consisting of learning disabled musicians and music facilitators.
We explore creative music making through a variety of project work designed to give the group interesting and rewarding challenges and provide collaboration opportunities with the wider community. In this project we are looking at homemade instruments; exploring how they work and in what ways we can have fun playing them.
The Sonic Tree multiplayer homemade instrument and the Sonic Stairway stringed instrument made a surprise appearance at the Blue Camel Club in Brighton. The music event is run by people with learning disabilities and typically features live band performances and DJ’s from the learning disabled community in Brighton and beyond. We set up the interactive instrument installation in a side room and members of the band and facilitators were on hand throughout the evening to support curious club goers who wanted to have a go at playing the unusual looking instruments. We were unsure how something like this would fit into a more conventional club setting but we were really impressed with peoples positive feedback of the experience. Here are some quotes from the club goers:
‘I like drumming on the tubes, its incredible. I think I was quite good at that.’
‘It’s unbelievable, it’s amazing and nice tunes. Makes me feel like joining in the choir(
‘I like playing with a vibrating steel rod’
‘I love the machine, it’s different but awesome.’
‘I love the new musical instrument machine The Sonic Tree. It’s my first try to do and make music its incredible and brilliant’
‘I loved the drumming’
‘When I know I can make a beat I can do anything’
‘Brilliant, magical and surreal, I love it, cool!’
