Workshops and Classes

(1 hour)

Erik Spangler - instructor

Capacity: 8 students

Learn the basics of signal flow for studio recording in our space! Workshop participants will collaborate to create a short piece using a combination of acoustic sound sources, electronic hardware instruments, and samples, using the software environment of Ableton Live. Participants will learn how to manage different input sources through an analog mixer as well as a multi-channel audio interface. Attending one of these workshops is required before reserving studio time at Community Sound Space.

(1 hour)

Erik Spangler & other artists TBA

Capacity: 15 participants

To be offered at local senior centers.

Instructors will bring a selection of records from the musical past (50-70 years ago), invite participants to select songs for live sampling, and facilitate group improvisation with the samples through the use of MIDI controllers as well as vocalization and creative breath with microphones.

(3-week class, one-hour sessions twice a week)

Erik Spangler - instructor

Capacity: 5 students

Learn to design electronic sounds from the ground up, and create a range of voices with distinctive character. We will explore ways of shaping sound through different methods including subtractive, additive, wavetable, and granular synthesis. Original synth patches will be developed in Ableton Live and VCV Rack software, and sequenced to form the basis of original compositions.

Jezie Zhunio - instructor

Individual lessons at all skill levels. (Coming in Fall 2023)

(90 minutes)

Guest dance instructors in rotation

Erik Spangler - lead accompanist

Capacity: 8 students

Participants may be dancers and/or musicians, moving through improvisation exercises uniting both mediums to develop a collaborative phrase or piece together. Live accompaniment may use any combination of percussion instruments, finger drumming with samples, sequenced electronic music, keyboard or voice. Dance genres are variable, depending on the movement instructor for the day.

(3-week class, one-hour sessions twice a week)

Erik Spangler - instructor

Capacity: 5 students

Explore a range of approaches to sampling from various sound sources to create original beats and multi-layered compositions. Students will learn how to chop samples and sequence new patterns from the slices, assemble unique drum kits from individual sounds, apply effects processing, create bass lines and more. We will use Ableton Live software alongside hardware such as turntables, synths & samplers.

(3-week class, one-hour sessions once a week)

Ashley Sierra - instructor

Capacity: 8 students

Students will learn to write a rap song by using literary devices, structuring verses and hooks, rhyme schemes and concepts; cultivating emotion, storytelling and feeling to ultimately improve in lyricism and songwriting.

Jezie Zhunio - instructor

Individual and small group sessions for young children and their parents. Focusing on development of emotional intelligence through music. (Coming in Fall 2023)

(90 minutes)

Baltimore Boom Bap Society (Wendel Patrick & Erik Spangler) - creative facilitators

Capacity: 8 participants

Guiding young producer/DJs, emcees, beatboxers and instrumentalists through the process of group improvisation in the context of Hip Hop. Baltimore Boom Bap Society will demonstrate their use of turntables and electronics, invite participation in hands-on exploration of their performance setups, advise and lead exercises in creating live beats with small groups of musicians, and provide space for emcees/vocalists to freestyle or adapt written verses to a changeable musical context.

(3-week class, one-hour sessions once a week)

Von Vargas - instructor

Push your sonic boundaries with Songwriting and Production. Discover keys to successful approaches to writing and producing songs. In this workshop we will look at basic and intermediate techniques. Students will also learn how to gain access to tools that legendary hit making songwriters use on a daily basis.

(3 weeks, one-hour sessions once a week)

Erik Spangler - instructor

Capacity: 8 students

Bring your own instrument/voice, or learn to use one of the instruments in our collection, for use in group improvisation. Different strategies for structuring a composition in real time, including live cues, text and graphic scores will be explored, rooted in the act of listening. A musical vocabulary will be built through a close examination of the potential in each sound source, and connections between them. Every participant will have the opportunity to lead a musical texture of their own design, through a collaborative process.