A series of free workshops designed to help musicians and technologists collaborate were offered听by CU Boulder鈥檚 ATLAS Institute during the spring semester.
Held weekly, the听Music Technology Workshop Series was designed to connect those听interested in music technology with faculty and students from ATLAS, CMCI听and the College of Music,听听said听Torin Hopkins, the workshop coordinator and an ATLAS PhD student听who researches music interaction and music technology in Professor听Ellen Yi -Luen Do's听ACME Lab.听听
鈥淭he workshops provide a space听where ideas are born, alliances are made, where performances get inspired and people discover what they can really do," he said. "Through these workshops, we hope to empower the听next generation to forge alliances between performers and technologists."
Planned workshop topics included "Connect Music to Neopixels," "Music Software Tools for Teaching and Learning Music,"听"Introduction to Supercollider" and "Creative Instrument Building with Makey Makey".听COVID-19 interrupted the series midway, but Hopkins says they are committed to continuing the series in the fall semester if it can be done so safely.听听
In addition to Hopkins, instructors included Wayne Seltzer, ATLAS technologist-in-residence;听Pete Pascente, CTD master's student;听Mariana Tamashiro, CTD master's student;听Matt Bethancourt, TAM director and senior instructor;听Ian Hales, ATLAS instructor; Hugh Lobel, scholar-in-residence, Critical Media Practices; and听Sean Winters, CMCI lecturer.
"The real goal is to build a stronger community interested in music technology听by providing a space for people to meet, practice and help each other learn," said Hopkins. "We're bootstrapping a music-tech community."
Hopkins, Seltzer and Pascente听previously collaborated to create听Jam Station听in听Do's听.听 Jam Station is a collection of homemade instruments that encourage听musical improvisation among non-musicians.听The project was听displayed at Maker Made 2020 at Boulder Library鈥檚 Canyon Gallery, and the work听has been submitted for academic conferences and maker fairs.
