School of Music

This lesson will be a workshop dedicated to the processes of creating compositions with various noise sources, both electronic and acoustic. We will listen to and analyze different noise excerpts, learn about different recording methods, and compose short etudes together that can be used as starting points for longer compositions. Mostly this class will give students a lot of information and ideas to work with as they go into their projects for the last half of the semester.

Erin Demastes is a Los Angeles-based multimedia artist, composer, and performer whose research combines sound and technology with humor, drama, and absurdity. Her work emphasizes the arbitrariness of product design by subverting the usage and perception of materials with play and experimentation. By placing items in theatrical settings, Erin brings out the character of things we normally may not think twice about. She uses everyday household objects for both her fixed media work and performances, but occasionally will create hacked and intentionally non-user-friendly electronics as well. Erin received an MFA in Experimental Sound Practices and Integrated Media from California Institute of the Arts, and a BM in jazz studies and piano performance from Loyola University New Orleans. She currently works as a freelance artist, educator, and instrument maker, and before coming to Los Angeles, Erin worked as a jazz and classical pianist, composer, and arranger for 10 years in the New Orleans area.