Interview with Kath Lloyd singer songwriter ‘Shimmering’ performed by The Esplanados.

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Shimmering depicts the special feeling of the birth of a child.

See the video clip at: http://abrighterfuture.org.au/ and make a donation to give children with Cerebral Palsy a Brighter Future.

Alex Ruthmann demos Mixdex on Apple iPad.

The Palestinian children of the West Bank grow up amid the sounds of guns and bombs. But a project inspired by Professor Nigel Osborne is determined to help them listen to a different tune.

Donald Macintyre reports Monday, 30 October 2006 click link to read article

Thorin Kerr trials jam2jam for OLPC XO using Sugar on a stick which is a way of placing the sugar OS on Apple Macs and PC’s in this brief demo he tests jam2jam running on an early notepad computer and runs through a number of jam2jam styles. It should be noted that network and photo/webcam functions failed to work but the solo music making activity functioned.

Jam2jam_XO for OLPC 2031 downloads and top download for Sugar Labs for this week. Congratulations to the development team and particularly Thorin Kerr who did innovative work in making this happen.

Jam2jam_XO  has 1000 downloads in its first week, and is currently listed in the “Top Downloads” for Media Creation activities on Sugar Labs, the official OLPC software site.

Congratulations to ACID developer Thorin Kerr who has made a version of jam2jam for OLPC that is an exciting contribution to music on the machine. OLPC Australia will be trying the new music software in classrooms with children in remote communities. Teachers and musicians will be developing Recipes for jamming and style/scenes for music learning and for use in other subjects where collaborative music making can contribute to making the learning experiences fun and engaging. See more info and download a copy for your XO by clicking this link.

You don’t have to own an OLPC to try it you can run the OS from a memory stick on Mac or PC machines.

Thorin has also tested jam2jam XO on Sugar on a stick using PC and Apple machines. The only downside of this format is the OS does not permit camera functions.

About Jam2Jam XO

Jam2jam software makes the OLPC XO laptop into a musical instrument. With Jam2jam XO, players can create and perform music and present images either on their own or synchronised with others, over the mesh network. In a Jam2Jam XO band each user plays a different part, either bass, drums, guitar, or keyboards.

Jam2Jam XO uses generative technologies so users can make choices about the musical activity in real time and influence changes in the music by moving a part icon up and down to alter the music in various ways. With Jam2jam XO you can be playing in a band within minutes and learn about musical concepts through playing collaboratively with others.

An amazing display of musical talent and preparation using 2x Beatbox Stylophones. These cost around $25 each plus postage so for under $60 for 2 its was cheaper than a xylophone and heaps more funky.

Algorithms are Thoughts, Chainsaws are Tools from Stephen Ramsay on Vimeo.

Andrew Sorensen’s Live coding with Impromptu is critiqued by Stephen Ramsay

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