More video interviews with students from my 2008 Instrument Construction course at SAIC have been uploaded.

• SAIC Student Rob Martens: Evil Brother Of Snap, Crackle and Pop Martens?
  http://www.gearwire.com/theramin-instrument-construction.html
• (Part 1) SAIC Student Bethany Childs Tempts The Fury Of Neptune
  http://www.gearwire.com/conchshell-instrument-construction-001.html
• (Part 2) SAIC Student Bethany Childs And Playing An Interfaced Conch Shell
  http://www.gearwire.com/conchshell-instrument-construction-002.html

• Stuart Schmidt Is More Machine Than Man, Now
  http://www.gearwire.com/glove-controller-instrument-construction.html
• Cycling 74 Max: Kyle Evans’ Cigar Box Controller Controls Air Traffic Control
  http://www.gearwire.com/cigarbox-controller-instrument-construction.html

And as mentioned previously…

• Chris Burke’s Interactopus: One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Interactopus
  http://www.gearwire.com/interactopus-instrument-construction.html
• Jenna Caravello’s Celloharp Promotes Inter-Instrumental Hybridization
  http://www.gearwire.com/celloharp-instrument-construction.html

One highlight from 2007’s Instrument Construction class remains the “Bubble Organ” designed and built by Aaron Wendel.

Below is a short, unedited video clip of Aaron’s instrument.

(more…)

On Friday, May 2 SAIC’s Waveforms presented videos and performances by students from the Sound Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Gretchen Hasse from Gearwire came and interviewed many of the students in my Instrument Construction course, who opened the evening with an ensemble performance on their new instruments.

The video interviews are being completed now, and the first one up in the series is with Jenna Caravello, who worked all semester on her original acoustic instrument, the Celloharp. As you might guess from its name, this is a hybrid instrument. Jenna’s persistence and resilience in the face of so many kinds of challenges during its design and construction earns my respect and admiration.

The second video is an interview with Chris Burke who took Shawn Decker’s Programming For Sound course this spring. Chris dug deep into Max/MSP and Jitter software, and Ed Bennett’s ArtBus card, to come up with the Interactopus, a hardware interface for the real-time control of sound and video housed inside a warm, flexible fabric body.

Please visit this web page again and soon, as I announce more of Gretchen’s interviews with some of my outstanding student artists and their wonderful instruments.