Archive for February, 2010

Thorin Kerr demonstrates a reggae groove using jam2jam on OLPC. With this program we are wanting to emphasise the cultural fluidity of the content so that when new communities play with jam2jam the content they can play with will be one that they value and can be expressive with. Thorin’s work with OLPC is showing that we can put very different content on jam2jam for OLPC so that when it goes to communities around the world we can use content from that place that resonates and engages. Jam2jam research began like this when we asked Afro American kids in Ohio what kind of music they liked and then made generative styles based on those preferences. Whilst most of our styles are what we might call ‘Pop or rock’  we can do anything from abstract electronica to Bach or Xenakis or any tuning and rhythmic system. The ethics of musical content is an important consideration and we hope to place these choices in the hands of the users in their own communities to select and make.

The Jam2jam OLPC Crew: Steve Dillon, Thorin Kerr & Andrew Brown

See jam2jam for OLPC on the World News

If some one loves a flower, of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars, it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars. He can say to himself: ‘Somewhere, my flower is there…’

Pioneering Aboriginal singer-songwriter Ruby Hunter has died.

A Ngarrindjeri woman, Hunter was born in 1955 near the banks of the Murray River in South Australia.

She was a member of the Stolen Generations, having been forcibly removed from her family at the age of eight.

Hunter met her lifelong partner and musical soul mate Archie Roach when she was 16. Both were homeless teenagers at the time.

Roach and Hunter have been described as a singing/songwriting team of extraordinary spirit.

Review by Lia Laor Levinsky College of Education, Israel International Journal of Education and the Arts

” Dillon’s attempt to understand the personal meaning of music for young people is particularly
important in view of past attempts to stay close to scientific modes of thinking.”

“In my view, the major innovation in Dillon’s book is his point of departure for developing his
vision of music education through children. He is interested in examining children’s unique
outlook of their musical experiences and the relevance of this experience to their lives, and
factors that enable children to develop self-contained dialogue with music through listening,
performing, and creating. “

Lia provides an insightful and helpful review in the light of strengthening the thesis for a relational pedagogy based upon our relationship to knowledge in ontological sense radiating out towards the epistemological. It is indeed an  honour to receive these thoughts from an expert in the philosophy of relationships such as this. I am humbled by the insight and attention to the ideas. Steve Dillon

Thorin Kerr Demonstrates jam2jam for OLPC using a Country and western style with web cam images. This shows the extended functionality of network jamming with both music and images DJ/VJ. This will enable users to jam collaboratively with OLPC instruments in real time and also capture images.

Whilst the sound on these little machines is only heard through the tiny inbuilt speakers through headphones or a stereo the sounds are lovely samples.

Download report click here