Bringing together the diverse and often unconventional talents of the extended Nonclassical community, this summer we hosted a series of digital workshops across a variety of topics in our Nonclassical Academy. Celebrating the resilience and creativity of our artists during lockdown, the series so far has engaged with participants from all backgrounds – from those dabbling with composing for the first time to professionals looking to expand their practice.

These intimate sessions saw participants from all over the world come together to start, develop and explore creative practices across a diverse range of subjects, with some workshops encouraging participants to create their own works as part of the experience. From object theatre to miniature duos, we’ve compiled a selection of highlights featuring participants’ creations.

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Domestic Discipline // DIY Approaches to Experimental Music-Theatre Performance with Neil Luck

In this two-part workshop, composer-performer Neil Luck led participants in a practical investigation of experimental music-making limited by domestic scales and means.

After presenting a colourful overview of experimental performance practices, Neil invited participants to join in a series of interactive experiments, concluding the first session with a task to develop their own domestic scale work in-between the two workshops. Below is a playlist featuring a selection of works created by participants, touching on object theatre, multimedia work, and interactivity in performance.

Recomposed // classical collage, composition and sampling with Mira Calix

Aimed at those interested in exploring means of creating new music incorporating electronics into the classical world, composer and WARP artist Mira Calix hosted an introduction to composing for electronics and classical instrumentation.

Following an introduction to a variety of approaches to combining classical music with electronics, Mira discussed her own practice alongside examples of pieces and remixes by various artists. Participants were then asked to re-contextualise sounds from Dominic Murcott’s award winning piece, The Harmonic Canon into a short new work, later presenting their individual works back to the group as part of a group listening and discussion session.

Composing miniatures for voice and viola // Sarah Dacey + Stephen Upshaw

Vocalist Sarah Dacey (Juice Vocal, Riot Ensemble) and violist Stephen Upshaw (Solem Quartet, Riot Ensemble) led a pair of workshops introducing participants to less conventional approaches to score writing, including uses of graphic scores and notating extended techniques. In-between two guided sessions, the participants each composed their own miniature work for the duo, which were subsequently workshopped by Sarah and Stephen, with sketches and ideas recorded for review in the second session. Below are some examples of the resulting works.

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Perform with Langham Research Centre // ‘Play’ by Christian Wolff

In this pair of online workshops, participants were invited to discuss, analyse and consider the different elements of Christian Wolff’s prose piece, Play. Over the course of the two sessions, the participants performed the work several times in various combinations and for varying lengths, later discussing the effect of different interpretations and the new possibilities presented in each new performance.