Music Workshop – Pointless Beauty & the Art of Cinematic Fusion. A Sonic Screwdriver for all Musicians – Sun 9th June

Doors 9.30am. Start 10am. Finishes 1pm. Musician participant ticket £15, non-participant watch/learn ticket £10.

Pointless Beauty & the Art of Cinematic Fusion – A Sonic Screwdriver for all Musicians

This workshop offers a practical introduction to the wider world of performing and improvising with technology. Effects and amplification will be provided, you will just need to bring your instrument to take part.

The range and variety of audio effects and looping tools on the market these days means that we can make wilder, crazier sounds than ever before but it’s not always that obvious how to put them together in a musically meaningful way. From fully solo performance to integrating more subtly with a band, we’ll explore how using transformative effects can build a whole new way of approaching music.

As a multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Al Swainger has a wealth of experience in creating cinematic soundscapes and compelling groove fusions. Working both solo and in groups his project Pointless Beauty is focused heavily on incorporating technology to transform his own musical voice into a variety of situations.

Limitations & What to bring –  This workshop has been limited to only 15 musicians participating and 20 watch/learn participants.  Any instrument could conceivably take part – acoustic instruments and electric instruments. The focus will be on how the use of effects changes your relationship with the sound your instrument can now make (and in turn how you then interact with others). It would be wise for larger instruments (percussion or keyboards) to agree that just one person brought an instrument if possible. If you have questions please email Al direct at alswainger@yahoo.co.uk

See Pointless Beauty Perform Before the Workshop

Pointless Beauty and instructor for the day Al Swinger will be performing at our ‘Ambient, Latin, Jazz, Rock, Pop & Electronica Music Experience on Fri 31st May’ here at CICCIC.

Blending influences from ambient, latin, rock, pop and electronica with improvised music his use of effects pedals and computer manipulation alongside acoustic instruments provide an extensive and original tonal palette with which to sculpt his music.

Click here for more info on this concert.