Soundpainting Serenade

Composer Walter Thompson invented soundpainting in the 1980s as a way to create live, improvisational compositions with unique sign-language gestures. "I first saw it performed at a conference, and we had to try it here,” recalls Conrad Kehn, composer and founding director of the Playground Ensemble, a chamber ensemble dedicated...

By Thorin Klosowski

March 17, 2011

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Composer Walter Thompson invented soundpainting in the 1980s as a way to create live, improvisational compositions with unique sign-language gestures. "I first saw it performed at a conference, and we had to try it here,” recalls Conrad Kehn, composer and founding director of the Playground Ensemble, a chamber ensemble dedicated to modern performance.

It turned out that soundpainting was a perfect fit – both with the Playground Ensemble’s penchant for avant-garde and Kehn’s yen for audience participation. "For me, there is an inherent problem with classical music in that it's not interactive,” he says. “We wanted to start making music as a community with a transference of ideas taking place." The group’s members started inviting people to come play with them at different places around town on the third Friday of every month; tonight at 6:30 p.m., they’ll be at Artuvus Studios, 2690 West Barberry Place.

To soundpaint with the Playground Ensemble, all you need to do is show up with an instrument or just in full voice, and be prepared to get a quick rundown of the soundpainting gestures. Admission is free, whether you’d like to perform or just watch. For more information, visit www.playgroundensemble.org.
Fri., March 18, 6:30 p.m., 2011

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