Sound It Out

When you look at the mess of equipment in front of electronic musical experimenter Lisa Gamble, your head can start to swim. The mystery of musicianship is always apparent when you observe an instrument not being played. By what sorcery will they coax this object into music? We wonder this about even the most straightforward instruments. The magic in the encounter … Continue reading Episode #42 – Improvising Electronics with Gambletron →

The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation has a number of graduate student researchers working with them at the University of Guelph. In this episode you will meet them! There are seven 3-minute speeches by IICSI researchers detailing their interest in improvisation and how they do their research contained in today’s program. One of these … Continue reading Episode #41 – IICSI Research Studio Session →

The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation has a number of graduate student researchers working with them at the University of Guelph. In this episode you will meet them! There are seven 3-minute speeches by IICSI researchers detailing their interest in improvisation and how they do their research contained in today's program. One of these speakers is the host of this show, me! You will hear me speak about my motivation and approach to making this show, and why sometimes I under-explain what the show is about. Please add comments below! In addition to my ramblings you will hear about Toronto improvised music history, avoiding hierarchies through dialogic pedagogy, the improvised archive, the cinema of improvisation, and the ethics of interspecies engagement. This episode originally aired on CFRU 93.3FM (cfru.ca) in Guelph, Ontario on July 4, 2016. Send me a tweet @Cs_walk_with_me

Sound It Out airs on CFRU every second Tuesday at 5pm.

What comes to mind when you think about East Germany during the Cold War? Transnational black experimentalism? On today’s episode of Sound It Out historical musicologist Harald Kisiedu traces the development of experimental jazz through the innovative musical dynamo Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky. Kisiedu shows how the institutional discourses of the time pinpoint aesthetics as a critical … Continue reading Episode #40 The Origins of Jazz Experimentalism in East Germany – Harald Kisiedu talks about Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky →

What comes to mind when you think about East Germany during the Cold War? Transnational black experimentalism? It’s not the first thing right? On today’s episode of Sound It Out, the historical musicologist Harald Kisiedu traces the development of experimental jazz through the innovative musical dynamo, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky. Kisiedu shows how the institutional discourses of the time pinpoint aesthetics as a critical location for the negotiation of political values, particularly surrounding imperialism, democracy, the West, and the Soviet Union. Hear about socialist realism, the specter of decadence, and the rooting of experimentalist influences from the United States in this meticulously researched lesser-known history of an important branch of experimentalism as a transnational phenomenon. This originally aired on CFRU 93.3FM on May 24, 2016 at 5pm.

Tune in every second Tuesday to listen, or stream it live at cfru.ca.

How accessible is improvisation? In this archived interview from 2011, Mauricio Martinez speaks scholars, musicians, artists, and technologists from the Deep Listening Institute and the Adaptive Use Musical Instruments Project about the adaptable musical software (AUMI) which enables those with disabilities to make musical phrases play through gesture and movement.

Hear Occupational Therapist Leaf Miller, Pauline Oliveros, Gillian Siddall, Ellen Waterman, Sherrie Tucker, Jaclyn Heyen, Paula Josa-Jones, Cera Yiu, and Iris Hodgson discuss the motivational beginnings of the project, their experiences working with AUMI at Abilities First in Poughkeepsie, New York, and what it means to think about improvisation as a human right. This episode originally aired on CFRU 93.3FM community radio station in Guelph, Ontario. It aired on May 10, 2016 at 1700h.

On a side note, one of the participants in this conversation, Jaclyn Heyen, is currently undertaking a and blogging about a cross-country solo (with dog) motorcycle journey with trailer. Follow her at: http://www.jhblueroad.com/

One way of understanding the social importance of improvisation is its accessibility – anyone can improvise with anything, so long as the musical relationships involved respect the rules of improvisatory engagement – good listening, judicious risk taking, responsibility for others etc. The tight and tired world of elitist musical aims is no longer palatable to many of us, and improvisation, … Continue reading Episode #39 – Adaptave Use Technology (archive conversation) →

This conversation with philosopher Eric Lewis of McGill University centres around the question ‘what is music’, or more specifically, ‘what is improvised music?’ Prof. Lewis explains why a consideration of improvised music can re-frame some of the questions traditionally associated with the philosophical study of music, such as how a musical work is related ontologically … Continue reading Episode #38 – Music Ontology with Eric Lewis →

This conversation with philosopher Eric Lewis of McGill University centres around the question 'what is music', or more specifically, 'what is improvised music'. Prof. Lewis explains why a consideration of improvised music can re-frame some of the questions traditionally associated with the philosophical study of music, such as how a musical work is related ontologically to a score or composition, and its associated performances. Lewis discusses his proposal to revive intentionalism in aesthetics, making the, I think, highly appetizing suggestion that we ought to think of improvised music according to the vagaries of the representational visual arts, not via the overblown concepts on offer by traditional music ontology. This episode originally aired on CFRU 93.3FM in Guelph Ontario on April 12, 2016, at 5pm.

“Sound work as soul work.” This is how Gary Diggins describes what he does in his chamber of wonders located in the back of Guelph’s ‘venue for adventurous sounds’, Silence. A life-long musician and masterful musical healer, Diggins has worked with individuals and groups around the world using sound to elevate consciousness, promote healing, remind us … Continue reading Episode #37 – Silence and Mindfulness with Gary Diggins →