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Arts & Communication Push the ENVELOPE

Figure 4. Step 11 of the step-by-step instruction prepared by Lam. This slide explains the soldering position on the chip to connect the switch button and
the 9V battery connector with. Copyright © 2023 Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong. Reprinted with permission of Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong.

performative (performance), acousmatic (multi-channel Table 1. The learning objectives and the approaches to
and field recording), mixed media (audio-visual and achieving them through course design
livecoding), and others (conceptual arts and more).
Objectives Related activities
4.2. The Camp To explore the basics of “What sound art can be” and Guest
sound art as experience Sharings by Cheuk Wing Nam, Fiona
About half of the 120 Pre-course participants pursued the and expression Lee and Kenny Wong
Push the ENVELOPE program by attending one of the To engage in the creative Workshops: Ableton, DIY Oscillator,
week-long summer Camps. On the 1 day of the Camp, process of instrument and Field Recording, Max
st
the participants experienced the ice-breaking and bonding sound device making
activities, such as listening games and competitions. In the To develop creative Workshop on improvisation by Steve
evening, each participant received an audio interface, a practices Hui, Self-Study day leading up to the
field recording package, a handbook, and a folder of empty Performance Marathon
sound sketch paper sheets to use throughout the Camp.
The sound sketch diary was intended to be a daily activity The oscillator circuit building workshop, led by Lam,
for the participants to complete in their own time. At the began by explaining the two main approaches to DIY
end, some of the diaries were on display at the Public electronics: circuit bending and hacking. The class
16
15
Showcase (for example, in case the participant was unable made a “Square Wave Oscillator” using materials such
to present their work due to a scheduling conflict).
as breadboards, the CD 40106 chip Cmos Hex Schmitt
Figure 1 presents an example of the Camp outline, Trigger, resistors, diodes, switches, and knobs. To conclude
and Table 1 demonstrates how the proposed learning the class, Lam introduced ways to combine the use of the
objectives were achieved through the course design. The oscillator with guitar pedals and computers to process the
schedule was developed to provide all relevant workshops signals live through Ableton and Max.
and lectures before day 5, “Self-Study day,” for participants
to work together on ideas to be demonstrated on day 6 In the Max workshop, Yeung introduced the
at the Performance Marathon. There was a total of 16 possibility of combining computer programming and
workshop hours. Activities included three practice- sound creation by explaining the different use of text-
oriented workshops: building an oscillator circuit; based programming and graphical programming for
creating simple patches on Max; and doing simple sound creativity. By deconstructing the ready-made patches
editing and live processing on Ableton. There was also a prepared by him, and a detailed walk-through of the
guest workshop where Steve Hui improvised with objects, elements in a Max patcher signal flow, the participants
based on his performance 1.5 m, previously presented at were welcome to experiment with Yeung’s sample
Sound Forms 2021. patchers. They explored sampling, creating sound waves,

Volume 3 Issue 3 (2025) 6 doi: 10.36922/ac.6236