BALSAMIC is a collective of sound and movement improvisers who have developed their practice in (mostly) outdoor public spaces since 2020.

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.

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.

Thingamajigs will be leading instrument building craft tables at this year’s Blues, Brews & BBQ. Join us and build some easy instruments out of recycled materials!

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.

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.

Join us at Shapeshifters Cinema in Oakland, CA to experience Thingamajigs’ curated live performances, video narratives, poetry readings around redlining in the East Bay. Artists include, Sudhu Tewari, Theresa Wong, Katy Luo, Ayodele Nzinga, Suki O’Kane, Gabby Wen, Maxi Himpe and Hallie Smith.

Thingamajigs presents a new project called Redline Redefined that explores the history of redlining in through the lens of 8 East Bay artists to explore the discriminatory practices of redlining and their effects in our neighborhoods.

October 8, 2022 Oakland, CA - Redline Redefined Sound Walks

Participants with different vision, hearing, mobility, or accessibility needs, email erica@thingamajigs.org to arrange accommodations.

11:00 AM: Bike around Oakland with Suki O’Kane

2:00 PM: Explore sounds with Gabby Wen

Thanks to the generous support of California Arts Council and Bill Graham Foundation. Admission is FREE to the sound walk and launch party.

Thingamajigs Performance Group along with special guests are taking over the Kanbar Forum in San Francisco’s Exploratorium for a special collaborative recording of a day long durational work. W i n d o w is the sixth in a multi-year work created in a collaborative effort by Thingamajigs Performance Group and poet Stephen Ratcliffe. This marathon 13-hour work stems from 1,000 poems written in 1,000 consecutive days and combines spoken word, projected images, movable objects and live sound to create various levels of multimedia textures.

In collaboration with West End Arts District and Rhythmix Cultural Works, Thingamajigs will be showcasing some of Aeolian Day’s past wind-instruments at the Waterfront Park Launch Fest.

Save the date on Saturday April 9 for the Waterfront Park Launch Fest. This free, designed-for-all-ages event will bring together some of the Bay Area’s most talented musicians and dance artists as Rhythmix Cultural Works and West End Arts District combine two of their popular arts events into a one-day festival to celebrate the opening of the new park in the Alameda Point Waterfront District. For the full artist line up and more info on the event and location, visit rhythmix.org or westendartsdistrict.org.

Aeolian Day Installation by Thingamajigs

Come join us at the Window Gallery to view some wonderful wind instrument inventions from our Aeolian Day festival. We will have a demonstration and a discussion with the artists about their instruments and Aeolian Day.

Vaccination and Masks required. There will be no food or drink.

Joining from Seoul, Korea, Ensemble PHASE performs excerpts from Self_less, a work composed by Edward Schocker. With video projections Keith Evans, Self_Less, examines our “sense of self” while questioning the uniformity of these perceived feelings. Incorporating live music, projected and pre-recorded audio of stories from people who have unique neuropsychological experiences, such as Alzheimer’s, out-of-body experiences and body integrity identity disorder, Self_Less’ mission is to bring awareness of the connections among brain, body, mind, and self.

Two pieces created in 2021 by TPG and special guests. Within a Day is a six-hour stream of film and music created to reacquaint the ensemble post-lockdown, and features the films of TPG member Keith Evans in a touching homecoming. Sound of Wave in Channel is a 14-hour work created with poet Stephen Ratcliffe in the theater of BAM/PFA and features local musicians, composers, and movement artists, including Rae Diamond, Kevin Corcoran, Paige Sorvillo, and others.

Part storytelling, part radio show, part cinema, TPG brings together local ensembles who developed physically distanced and virtual practices in order to meet the need to make music with others during a global pandemic. Featuring Lisa Mezzacappa and Jason Levis (dBxB Large Ensemble), Paige Sorvillo, Kevin Corcoran and others.

A discussion with artists affiliated with TPG's work-in-progress Redline Redefined, a cultural research project investigating the history and impact of East Bay real estate redlining. Participating artists Sudhu Tewari and Theresa Wong talk about their strategies and process, sharing from their sonic portfolios, and explore issues of equity, community voice, and the responsibilities of the artist in public practice. Moderated by TPG member and project collaborator Suki O'Kane.