Events, activities, workshops and more.
TPG sharing the bill with Gelsey Bell and Erin Rodgers in their West Coast Premiere of Skylighght
TPG shares the bill with Gelsey Bell and Erin Rodgers presenting the West Coast premiere of their work Skylighght.
The TPG ensemble includes founders Dylan Bolles and Edward Schocker with interdisciplinary artist Rae Diamond, performative projection and sound artist Keith Evans, musician composer Suki O’Kane and special guest Wayne Grim.
Enjoy the Japanese court music known as gagaku. Gagaku is one of the oldest orchestral forms of music still being performed today. Dating from the 6th Century AD and evolving from the Silk Road traditions in Central and East Asia, gagaku came to Japan in the Heian period (8th C. AD).
Prior to the concert, the Northern California Gagaku Group will explain what gagaku is, its history, and musical instruments the group uses.
The Northern California Gagaku Group (NCGG) has its roots in the gagaku classes taught at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley in the early 1980’s by the Master Imperial Court musician, Suenobu Togi. The current group was formed at the Berkeley Buddhist Temple in 2009 to practice, teach and keep alive the 1000-year-old musical traditions of gagaku. The group members include Bay Area musicians, former students of Suenobu Togi, and former members of the Los Angeles based Kinnara Gagaku group.
Thingamajigs Performance Group welcomes the new year with the expanded cinema apparatus of Keith Evans, percussion, Jurassic electronics, and projection by Suki O'Kane, glass, shō, hijiriki, and electric guitar by Edward Schocker, and voice and objects from Rae Diamond.
An early show with proceeds benefiting ATA. Pay at the door or show your donation receipt to gain entry. No one turned away for lack of funds
About the Artists
Rae Diamond is an interdisciplinary artist and educator living on Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla land (Olympia, WA). They weave language, voice, breath, sounds, movement, and things found outside into experiences designed to stimulate attunement with nature. Rae founded and directed the Long Tone Choir 2013–2020, regularly collaborates with Thingamajigs Performance Group, and is a Redline Redefined commissioned artist. They are the author of The Cantigee Oracle (North Atlantic Books), and the author/illustrator of floating bones (First Matter Press). Rae teaches nature-inspired writing workshops and weekly Qigong classes, and spends as much time as possible in nature.
https://www.raediamond.com/
Keith Evans is an artist and activist who has been working and performing in the Bay Area for 25 years. Collaboration and co-creation has been a core element of his artistic practice having co-founded the experimental cinematic trio silt in 1989 as well as participating in many duos, groups and ensembles including Chresmologues and currently, Thingamajigs Performance group. He creates artwork in a cross-media array, using language, graphics, book arts, installation, kinetic sculpture, dance, film, video and sound, primarily for performance or with an expanded idea of performativity. The histories of imaginative media devices for altering consciousness find their way into his performances.
https://www.sfcinematheque.org/screenings/keith-evans-paracinematic-ecologies/
Suki O'Kane is an Oakland-based musician, composer, improviser and instigator working with artists from a wide array of music, movement, expanded cinema and public art genres. She is a student of monumental and durational forms, combining Jurassic electronics, everyday objects and found sounds to create noisy, hand held miniatures.
https://sukiokane.com
Edward Schocker is a composer and performer who creates music with made and found materials and alternate tuning systems. He studied at Mills College, where he worked with Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran, and independently with Lou Harrison. During his time at Mills College, he co-founded Thingamajigs, a Bay Area arts and education organization devoted to alternate methods of creating sound and art.
https://www.edwardschocker.com/
Join us for a special listening party with Bimodal Press, featuring w i n d o w, a 97-minute excerpt from the 14-hour performance by Thingamajigs Performance Group and poet Stephen Ratcliffe, recorded live on September 4, 2022.
Featuring Dylan Bolles, Kevin Corcoran, Wayne Grim, Cheryl E. Leonard, Megan Nicely, Suki O’Kane, Stephen Ratcliffe, Edward Schocker, and Paige Starling Sorvillo. Recorded by Michael Zelner and mastered by Wayne Grim.
RSVP here for free to join us!
Thingamajigs Performance Group opens the event with a site-responsive performance, setting a tone of exploration and discovery. Performance Group members include Keith Evans, Megan Nicely, Suki O'kane, Edward Schocker and Paige Sorvillo.
TACmusic presents
Matthew Daher's The Wisdom to Know the Difference
mit Darn [Suki O'Kane, Edward Schocker]
The Wisdom to Know the Difference is Matthew Daher’s electroacoustic solo project exploring the limits and possibilities of control and agency on both sonic and spiritual levels.
mit Darm isn the minus two project of Thingamajigs Performance Group with Edward Schocker on triggering glass, p’iri and shō, Suki O'Kane on contact mics and Jurassic pedals, creating that burst of wurst as you float in a sea of narcotic noise.
Saturday, May 10
TAC Temescal Art Center
7:30 doors
Entry by donation
The Cornelius Cardew Choir, Thingamajigs Performance Group and Pet the Tiger Instrument Inventors Collective celebrate the life and work of composer Pauline Oliveros and the release of the new book of text scores inspired by her “deep listening”. Several of the artists have scores published in this volume which will be performed alongside works by Oliveros. Audience participation in the “sonic meditations” is encouraged.
$25 suggested donation
Offering an evening of improvisational acoustic landscapes and paracinematic interventions, TPG performs from visual scores that follow the uncertainties and unexpected revelations of a life that only vaguely understands where it is going next. Performed by Keith Evans, Rae Diamond, Suki O’Kane and Edward Schocker
Thingamajigs Performance Group (TPG) is a sound-based ensemble working co-creatively in a variety of mediums and with a wide array of local and international artists. Formed in 2008 from longtime Thingamajigs contributors, TPG continues to break new ground in performance fields such as durational performance, alternate tuning, group and open compositional formats, interdisciplinary and intercultural collaboration, and site work.
https://shapeshifterscinema.square.site/product/breathing-life-of-the-snake/531?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false
The Cornelius Cardew Choir, Thingamajigs Performance Group and Pet the Tiger Instrument Inventors Collective celebrate the life and work of composer Pauline Oliveros and the release of the new book of text scores inspired by her “deep listening”. Several of the artists have scores published in this volume which will be performed alongside works by Oliveros. Audience participation in the “sonic meditations” is encouraged.
$25 suggested donation; byob.
No reservations, except for those with mobility issues. 415-586-3733.
Offering an evening of improvisational acoustic landscapes and paracinematic interventions, TPG performs from visual scores that follow the uncertainties and unexpected revelations of a life that only vaguely understands where it is going next.
Thingamajigs Performance Group: Edward Schoker Suki Okane Rae Diamond Keith Evans traditional/non traditional instruments + projections
&
Zachary James Watkins guitar + electro acoustics
&
Roco Cordova voice + electro acoustics
This performance is part of the exhibit, “loss & gain: text isle” a Art Ark Gallery in San Jose.
Join Thingamajigs for a launch party and concert presenting a multiyear project, Redline Redefined❗ Through the lens of 6 Bay Area artists, we explore the discriminatory practices redlining has in our neighborhoods, and how these vibrant areas are being redefined by the communities currently residing there. 🏢 🔺
We commissioned 8 artists thanks to grant funding from the California Arts Council, Bill Graham Foundation, and InterMusic SF. Learn more about our project on our website! ➡️ https://bit.ly/Redline-Redefined
Composers, Suki O’Kane and Zachary James Watkins present new works in premiere performances. O'Kane, a commissioned artist for Redline Redefined, debuts “Willow” and “Grist,” large ensemble pieces scored for 10 musicians. Watkins introduces, “Black Triad,” a composition for oboe, bassoon, and interactive electronics that explores unique three-note harmonic structures.
🎨 🎵 Featured Commissioned Artists 🎨 🎵
Alan Leon | Derek Gedalecia | Dongpu Ling | Jonathan Davis | Michele Cheng | Rae Diamond
Logistics
Admission: Free, Welcome to Donate at the Door, Snag Your Ticket on Eventbrite! ➡️ https://bit.ly/2024-RR-Launch-Party
Address: 2201 Poplar Street, Oakland, California 94607
Parking: Plenty of Street Parking Free for for 72 Hours
Join Thingamajigs for a launch party and concert presenting a multiyear project, Redline Redefined❗ Through the lens of 8 Bay Area artists, we explore the discriminatory practices redlining has in our neighborhoods, and how these vibrant areas are being redefined by the communities currently residing there. 🏢 🔺
Northern California Gagaku Group plays traditional gagaku music and demonstrates the unique instruments in the gagaku ensemble.
The first and third Wednesday night series for experimental and improvised music at the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco. Tickets are $10-20 on a sliding scale suggested donation, but no one turned away for lack of funds.
8:00 PM The Moth Stays
Suki O'Kane - gamelan and electronics
Rae Diamond - viola and vox
9:00 Mit Darm
Suki O'Kane - electronics, percussion
Edward Schocker - glass, hichiriki, shō
Rae Diamond - found object, voice
Join us for an afternoon where science, art, and wellness converge in a cosmic celebration of sound, light, and the transformative properties of music. The event will feature a workshop on creating music with water and drinking glasses, a relaxing Celestial Sound Oasis in our Planetarium, and a talk on the latest research on the profound impact of intentional listening on our sense of well-being.
BALSAMIC is a collective of sound and movement improvisers who have developed their practice in (mostly) outdoor public spaces since 2020.
Join us 10th Annual New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival where Dan Bales and Katie Harrell will be performing a new work with homemade instruments, found object instruments, and shadow puppetry in collaboration with Harmonic Drift.
The Harmonic Drift project is a fiscally sponsored project of Thingamajigs that is an immersive sensory experience of original musical instruments and shadow puppet theater. Harmonic Drift aligns with our mission of promoting music and other art-making through found objects and alternate tunings.
The tickets for the performances are priced on a sliding scale and there are also two parades at no cost to the public. The public is welcome to create homemade instruments as part of a mobile sound installation for the parades.
Join us for the unveiling of our four-channel sound installation collaboration with RYSE Youth Center, sound artist Kirk Pearson, California Arts Council, and Public Design for Equity.
STart CAMP — offers three projects each week and is designed to engage CAMPers entering grades K-5. In this program, CAMPers rotate in small groups to each of the three multi-medium art projects every day and Body Movement & Games, all four days of the CAMP week. This is a structured environment that offers developmentally appropriate challenges and levels of materials usage for young makers and artists, and is well-suited to the creative needs of these ages. With a 1:5 staff to CAMPer ratio, your child will have plenty of support to complete projects.
We also offer AM (8am - 9am) and PM (3pm - 6pm) Extended Care for an additional fee.
$380 per week until November 22nd
$430 after November 22nd
STart CAMP — offers three projects each week and is designed to engage CAMPers entering grades K-5. In this program, CAMPers rotate in small groups to each of the three multi-medium art projects every day and Body Movement & Games, all four days of the CAMP week. This is a structured environment that offers developmentally appropriate challenges and levels of materials usage for young makers and artists, and is well-suited to the creative needs of these ages. With a 1:5 staff to CAMPer ratio, your child will have plenty of support to complete projects.
We also offer AM (8am - 9am) and PM (3pm - 6pm) Extended Care for an additional fee.
$380 per week until November 22nd
$430 after November 22nd
Skatch is the art of rubbing shaped combs over cardboard surfaces with a variety of items affixed to it issuing a range of weird and wild sounds which defy descriptions. Skatch is freeing—an improvised music with no wrong sounds—unapologetically distanced from all notions of craft and skill. It is fun for everyone, regardless of their perceived musicianship.
Join David Samas in making these one-of-a-kind percussion instruments designed by the late Tom Nunn. David was Tom’s studio assistant for a decade and pioneered outreach and education to adults and youth through Thingamajigs, building skatchboxes with hundreds of people all over California.
Ever wanted to build a synthesizer? In this beginner's workshop, organized by Thingamajigs and led by Kirk Pearson (founder and director of the Berkeley-based audio laboratory Dogbotic) participants will be led through the process step-by-step, demystifying the horrible world of electrical engineering at every turn. You'll learn how to build basic oscillators, filters, LFOs, and amplifiers, how to rig up your circuit to be light-sensitive, and oh-so-much more. Each participant will make their own working synth prototype, which we'll tune together to form a delicious sound bath. You'll then get to take your prototype home and use it to impress and irritate your friends and loved ones. All parts are included, no prior circuitry experience or musical ability needed.
Composer, Edward Schocker collaborated with members of the local community to create a multi-part series that examines the question of ‘what is the self?’ from a cultural, spiritual, and social perspective that even touches on the sense of self in the process of aging and memory loss. These stories, along with music and song, performed by ensemble PHASE, will be accompanied by live video projection, created by Keith Evans, that envelops and activates a space.
Tickets: Free (donations requested)
Composer, Edward Schocker collaborated with members of the local community to create a multi-part series that examines the question of ‘what is the self?’ from a cultural, spiritual, and social perspective that even touches on the sense of self in the process of aging and memory loss. These stories, along with music and song, performed by ensemble PHASE, will be accompanied by live video projection, created by Keith Evans, that envelops and activates a space.
Alameda’s favorite music festival, Blues, Brews & BBQ, returns for its 6th edition bringing together world-class Blues musicians, a myriad of local craft breweries, and smoking BBQ vendors. Drink packages will be offered so you can sample from over a dozen craft beers plus local wines or inspired cocktails.
In addition to the festivities, attendees will have the opportunity to peruse locally-crafted wares from Bay Area vendors. Kids can get crafty and stay engaged at the Family Zone.
Rock out with science and celebrate the opening of our brand-new exhibition, Making Music: Math and Science Out Loud! Making Music explores mathematical and scientific phenomena related to musical melodies, beats, harmonies, and more. Visitors of all ages and musical skill levels will nurture their inner musicians by exploring sound and experimenting with various specialty instruments and music-making tools.
Rock out with science and celebrate the opening of our brand-new exhibition, Making Music: Math and Science Out Loud! Making Music explores mathematical and scientific phenomena related to musical melodies, beats, harmonies, and more. Visitors of all ages and musical skill levels will nurture their inner musicians by exploring sound and experimenting with various specialty instruments and music-making tools.
The exhibition will feature video interviews with local Bay Area musicians, who will discuss the role of math and science in their work and what music means to them.
Everyday Musical Instruments (ft. composer Edward Schocker)
What does music have to do with math? (ft. Alphabet Rockers, Tommy Soulati Shepherd)
How does math play a part in live music? (ft. musician Lou Lou Rosenthal)
How does music help us understand science? (ft. singer-songwriter, Rene Pena Govea)
Thingamajigs’ Edward Schocker will be performing resonant glass as part of the event, where the audience is invited to wander the multilevel building which is built onto a hillside between Piedmont Avenue and Howe Street as the performers play simultaneously. Getting lost is part of the experience as guests climb up and down the three floors through a maze of gardens, cloisters, alcoves, stairwells, fountains and other architectural elements, which rise into vaulted ceilings.
Clouds from a Crumbling Giant, a collaborative performance project, will be presented by the UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance March 3-5 in the Main Theater, Wright Hall.
Devised by Granada Artist-in-Residence Shinichi Iova-Koga, the project follows the birth and death of a species, an empire, a universe, a flower. Time unfolds on stage like a wheel revolving, seeming to follow a path that becomes the snake eating its own tail. Behind the curtain, vibrations emerge to shape the earth, the rocks, the people. Clouds from a Crumbling Giant teems with stillness and wild movement, spoken text, song and sound.
The project’s creative team includes lighting designer Allen Willner, costume designer Rebecca A. Valentino, composer and music director Dan Cantrell (working with musicians Suki O’Kane, Edward Schocker and Jon Raskin), assistant choreographer Ann Dragich and dramaturge Miriam Wolodarski.
East-coast Guitarist/Composer Flynn Cohen leads a workshop on building simple versions of instruments that produce natural harmonics of vibrating strings and columns of air: South African-style Umqangi mouth bows and pvc overtone flutes. Attendees can choose to build either one or both. There will be instruction in the basic playing technique and a chance to jam with others. Workshop is free of charge, sponsored by a grant from the City of Oakland. All building materials and tools will be provided.
Dodecachordon, a 12-part work by composer Edward Schocker, combines multiple electric guitars and the natural acoustics of a room to explore the energetic relationships between pure harmonic vibrations. Supported with live projected images by Keith Evans, Shapshifters Cinema will be transfixed with abstract projections and the deep sound of drones produced by six electric guitars. Listeners are encouraged to traverse throughout the space and explore the unique acoustic and psychoacoustic phenomena that occur.
Sharing the title with a 16th century book written by a Swiss Monk, Heinrich Glarean (1488-1563), Dodecachordon reflects the Medieval church modes into a modern light using alternate tuning systems. Neither a performance nor an installation, this 6-hour work invites audience members to come and go as they please and to stroll, lay down, or meditate within a sonically and visually altered space.
![TACmusic presents Matthew Daher's The Wisdom to Know the Difference and mit Darm [Suki O'Kane, Edward Schocker]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56ba47a54c2f85e6ef1a45ee/1744652166184-DDDJE1N2EE3G5HTL5I4X/G0010069.jpg)
