In the summer of 2017 researchers at DMU developed a series of 4 workshops to be used in schools for introducing pupils to sound-based creativity. As part of these workshops pupils participated in listening training, made recordings using digital recorders and then used this material to create their own compositions on computers.

First, the students took part in soundwalks in order to explore the sounds around them. These soundwalks were designed to help draw their attention to different aspects of the soundscape and to encourage them to consider their own responses to the sounds. The listening training provided a foundation for choosing which sounds to record in the following workshop as well as deciding how to arrange those sounds in compositions. As a nect step, the pupils were given digital recorders to collect sounds from around their schools. This process was designed in the form of a sonic treasure hunt where they decided on types of sounds they wanted to find when recording.

In the final two wokshops the pupils used their recordings to create their own sound compositions using the software “compose with sounds” on computers. They arranged sounds in sequences and often created rhythmic loops out of the sounds. They also transformed the sounds using effects such as by slowing them down or speeding them up, which changes the pitch and length of the sound. 

Click here and here to find examples of their work.