Turning a workshop into a podcast.

CLIP was commissioned by Focal Point Gallery to produce the thirteenth commission as part of ‘FPG Sounds’, an online project to support the development of new sound works by artists or groups from or based in Southend-on-Sea.

For this commission, participants from Vibe Southend were joined by Frazer Merrick and Jack Vernon from CLIP for a series of workshops on making music from everyday sounds. Using the iPad app Koala, the group were encouraged to listen to and record sounds from the room around them and turn them into drum beats, melodies and even whole songs. The result is a mix of audio tracks and discussions that emerged from the workshop.

By using portable field recorders, we were able to capture the sound of participants making their music, their responses to each others performances and the performances themselves. This was then bought together into a single composition which moves between these three stages, listening, composing and reflecting.

Vibe Southend is a social club and multi-media studio for adults with learning disabilities based in Southchurch, Southend-on-Sea.

Focal Point Gallery supports the production and presentation of new and recent contemporary art that challenges us to think and feel differently about locality, our sense of self and the importance of communities. Our wide-ranging and pioneering artistic programme is relevant to local and national audiences alike, through exploring current concerns that also resonate internationally. Based in Southend-on-Sea on the Thames Estuary, FPG’s activities take place in locations across the region with our reach extended by working collaboratively with like-minded partners. FPG commissions and presents major solo exhibitions, group and thematic shows, events and off-site projects, which develop new audiences and engage local communities.