QMUL School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science
Centre for Digital Music Seminar Series
**Seminar by Oliver Hodl (University of Vienna, Austria) **
**Date/time: Monday 23rd of September, 4pm **
**Location: Graduate Centre, room 222 ** Number 18 on Campus map: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/qmul/docs/about/Mile-End_map-April2019.pdf
Open to students, staff, alumni, public; all welcome. Admission is FREE, no pre-booking required.
Title: Sparkling Instruments - Design and Construction of Digital Music Instruments to Convey Knowledge in Music and STEM School Subjects
Abstract: Sparkling Instruments deals with the creation of digital music instruments by secondary school students. Although, the superior aim is to improve their understanding of new forms of music making and increase their interest in STEM subjects such as computer science and physics. In practice, three groups of 36 secondary school students, among them one girls-only group, participated in the project over the course of one school year. They started with trying out existing instruments and music games. Then the students created playful possibilities to interact with music in a series of workshops with musicians, game designers and music technology experts. Finally, they created their own very different music instruments. The centrepiece and starting point of each instrument was an empty circuit board specially designed for Sparkling Instruments. Apart from that, the students used common electronics components as well as wood, textiles, foil, 3D printed objects or any other material of their choice. In a closing public event, each group performed in a concert using their own musical instruments.
Bio: Dr. Oliver Hodl works as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna with an interest in Human-Computer Interaction, music and design. His research foci are interaction design, studying user experiences, art-based research approaches, and HCI-related qualitative and quantitative research methods. With the Trombosonic, he developed an award-winning new digital music instrument.