Playing with Purpose – instruments for (more than) music | HYBRID

This half-day, hybrid face-to-face/virtual workshop will explore the use of LEGO® as a flexible medium for designing, building, prototyping and performing with musical instruments. We start from the position that musical instruments can be used for far more than solely playing music. Instruments can also function as a means of exploring, teaching and collaborating in many other parallel fields. Moreover, building instruments from LEGO® poses not only challenges (e.g. discrete-style materials and joining methods) but also opportunities (e.g. reconfiguration, prototyping, and access).

We invite all those active within the large international community of LEGO® music makers and researchers to participate in this workshop, either in person or virtually. Participants are encouraged to share their LEGO® musical instrument experiences, designs and to perform with their LEGO® instruments.

The event will also be an opportunity to discuss the establishment of an international network for likeminded musicians, designers, researchers and educators active in this area. Future events might focus on how instruments can be used not solely for playing music but also as a means to explore, teach and collaborate in other areas too.

This project is funded by the UCL Music Futures initiative.

Register to participate. Please contact Dr Ross Purves (r.purves@ucl.ac.uk) for more information.

Note: LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this work.
Photo by Ryan Howerter on Unsplash.