Following the Immediate Pieces project I did with CoMA last year, we’re collaborating on a new one over the next few months called Ordinary Objects. The project addresses their need for new compositions which are useable by a wide range of people who may not have access to conventional instruments or training in music. CoMA’s work is central to developing inclusive collaboration in music through their extensive programme of work with composers, performers and audiences in communities across the UK and beyond, with a special focus on non-professional, untrained or first-time musicians. Their aim to reach new and more diverse groups is restricted by barriers to participation including the need for costly resources and a perception by participants that they must be musically trained. The project will approach this by creating pieces that anybody can play, regardless of their previous musical experience or availability of instruments. Working with everyday materials, such as packaging, phones, recycling, stationery, and fabric, and using processes that do not require any previous musical experience, the pieces will open up access to new musical possibilities for participants.
For the project, we have appointed three artists for whom sound/music is not their focus. They will be working with me, Sarah Nicholls and CoMA to adapt their creative practice to produce scores. The project will produce a collection of new pieces as a resource pack for individual and organisations to use to encourage engagement with experimental music practices. The work will be trialed through a partnership with The Old Town Hall community arts centre in Trowbridge, resulting in documented recordings of the new pieces.
The project is funded by the AHRC Impact Accelerator Award at Bath Spa University.
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