Sound and Conservation: Small Orchestra of Destruction Tom Binns
Event details
When restoration or repair is not cost effective, old pianos are often discarded. But they are ripe for reimagination.
Experience the sounds and smells of a piano being dismantled and transformed into a playable ‘strung back’: the piano's frame and strings only. Hear the sounds of the dismantling and the strung back in performances with instrumental ensemble The Assembled.
Programme:
- 12pm – dismantling begins
- 1pm - performance of musicians, including the School of ACT ensemble The Assembled, incorporating the live sounds of the process of dismantling the piano.
- 5.30pm - performance of musicians, including the School of ACT ensemble The Assembled, incorporating the finished strung back.
Don’t miss our accompanying talk at 6pm.
Image credit: Tom Binns (Photo by Jamie Williamson/The Sunday Post)
About the speaker
Tom Binns is the project coordinator and founding director of Glasgow Piano Project CIC. Over the last 12 years this not-for-profit social enterprise has redistributed hundreds of piano donations all over the city, facilitated numerous free public events and even built an auditorium from old pianos in collaboration with the Edinburgh based Pianodrome collective. An important element of the project is to support the next generation of piano tuners with training and access to their workspace in Glasgow. York Consortium for Craft and Conservation (YCCC) have helped fund a recent apprenticeship, providing a pathway to employment while also encouraging other young people to join the profession. Tom initially trained in Architecture at Glasgow School of Art and went on to study piano at the National Jazz Institute (Strathclyde University) winning the 2006 Celtic Connections songhunter competition. Tom also leads workshops in ‘Listening through the Body - with Art’ after training in Scotland and the Netherlands in Experiential Listening and Focusing with Children.
The Assembled is a group of musicians based at the University of York, dedicated to working in an experimental, exploratory manner. We work collaboratively, often developing pieces together or using forms of improvisation.
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