This workshop is a collaborative and experimental meeting that brings together two fronts of sound research: the expanded piano preparation procedures with feedback loops and live electronics improvisation strategies. Participants will have the experience of some preparation procedures - objects, microphones, amplification and resonance - while also exploring the possibilities presented in the live electronics system: synthesis, modulation, live sampling, looping and rhythmic exploration.

Through improvisation games, listening and practical experimentation, the group collectively builds a hybrid performance involving piano, objects, acoustic instruments and electronic systems. The listening practice aims to develop awareness of presence during performance and perception of the dynamics of sound morphology, sound gestures and their effects on compositional structure. The meeting is proposed as a collective performance: each session takes on its own form, approach and dynamics based on the participants, the objects available and their dispositions. Everyone may choose how to approach - playing, listening, observing or simply occupying the space of the encounter.

Target audience: Students, for example with piano as their main/secondary subject. But other instruments are just as welcome! In general, the workshop is suitable for anyone interested in live processing, mixed music, experimental music, and noise.

Signing up for the workshop is possible under the following link, until 14th October:

unimusik.tu-dortmund.de/ensembles/dortmunder-universitaetsorchester/anmeldung-zu-via-prisma-resonance-and-opacities/

Gabriel Dargains is a PhD student in Music at PPGM/UNIRIO, developing research on expanded resonance in the music department (creative processes). He uses the amplified/feedback-prepared piano as a starting point to articulate resonance as a possible metaphor for relations between individuals and structures. His piano+objects+people configurations develop meaning through experimentation and choices made by participants before the objects that are available.

Piiter Rocha is a guitarist, composer, music educator, producer and researcher. He is a PhD candidate in Music at PPGM/UNIRIO, developing artistic research into the conceptual, technical and fictional relations of sound from an Afrofuturist perspective. He explores pre-recorded materials, real-time sound processing, electric guitar and effects pedals to create soundscapes within the field of experimental music. He is a member of Coletivo Revoada, Coletivo Negro Elza Soares and the Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM Brasil) community.

With the weather at its best, we headed to Düsseldorf to see the special exhibition by Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst at K21. The duo works at the fascinating intersection of art, music, machine learning, and experimental forms of organization. Herndon and Dryhurst transformed the exhibition spaces into an immersive sound installation where visitors can not only listen but also record their own sounds.

Afterward, we continued on to the city center—or rather, beneath the city center. At the “Heinrich-Heine-Allee” subway station, we were able to listen to three different sound installations. These were “Music Plants Music” by Miki Yui & Daisuke Matsusaka, “through nature’s shiver” by Yonca Yildirim, and “FOLDS (in tape)” by KMRU.

It was a wonderful conclusion to our enriching field trip, from which we took home many musical impressions!

More information about the special exhibition is available on the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen website: https://www.kunstsammlung.de/de/exhibitions/holly-herndon-mat-dryhurst 

More information about the sound installations is available on the “Showrooms Unlimited” website: https://www.showrooms-unlimited.de/3modellraeume/ 

Participants in the seminar “The Lullaby Project—Collecting, Documenting, and Analyzing Culturally Specific Data” presented the project “Berlin Falls Asleep” in Erfurt. To this end, they developed a workshop in which they discussed, among other things, the lyrics of lullabies and the research methods they used.

That evening, a lecture recital followed, featuring a presentation by Prof. Miriam Akkermann. In addition, the University of Erfurt Chamber Choir, conducted by Michael Käppler, performed several songs.

What lullabies do we sing—and, above all, why? We explored this question in more detail on July 2, 2026. Participants in the seminar “The Lullaby Project—Collecting, Documenting, and Analyzing Culture-Specific Data” organized a recording session at a sound studio for this purpose.

They used the recording tool from the “Berlin schläft ein” project. First, the volunteers filled out a questionnaire about the lullabies they had brought with them. Then, they recorded the various lullabies in the recording studio booth.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed to the project—both in front of the microphone and behind the scenes, helping to organize it!

Several participants in the seminar “Musical Instruments (and) Computers: Digital Technologies and Artistic Practices” attended the International Computer Music Conference 2026 in Hamburg together with Miriam Akkermann. Under this year’s theme “Innovation, Translation, Participation,” the conference once again served as a venue where composers, artists, and researchers from around the world could exchange ideas on current practices and future developments in computer music and sound art.

In addition, the participants worked as volunteers to assist with the paper sessions.

The conference took place from May 6 to 8, 2026, and was organized by the Center for Music in the Brain at Aarhus University (Denmark) in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Music and the European MSCA doctoral network Lullabyte.

Research contributions on music and sleep have increased rapidly over the past decade, with perspectives ranging from neuroscience and sleep research to approaches in music information retrieval, music psychology, and data science. The aim of the conference is to bring together researchers from various fields engaged in music and sleep to foster collaboration and scientific progress.

The conference will facilitate the dissemination and discussion of research findings on music and sleep through international keynote speakers, lectures, poster presentations, workshops, and social events.

For more information, visit the website https://musicinthebrain.au.dk/international-conference-on-music-and-sleep-2026 

Learn more about the conference partners here: Center for Music in the Brain, The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, and Lullabyte 

Sponsors: Aarhus University, The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, and the Carlsberg Foundation.

On the night of July 4–5, 2025, the “Lullabyte Sleep Concert” took place at the Center for Art and Urbanism in Berlin. Artists Alice Eldridge and Kirsten Reese performed a mix of field recordings and electronic music, while around 70 people fell asleep to the music.

The Lullabyte Sleep Concert was organized in collaboration with the Heroines of Sound festival and the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Professorship at Freie Universität Berlin.

On July 4, 2024, the “Lullabyte Sleep Concert” took place at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. The event began with an introduction to the Lullabyte project. At 10 p.m., a two-hour live piece of electronic music by Natasha Barrett followed, performed by the duo “Dream Divers” (aka Natasha Barrett – live electronics, Miriam Akkermann – flute). The work was composed specifically for this occasion and utilized the Aranyó 3D audio system.

This was followed by a six-hour instrumental improvisation featuring Miriam Akkermann (flutes), Haize Lizarazu (piano and zither), Ángel Faraldo (live electronics), and Àlex Reviriego (double bass). They played music intended to promote sleep. At 7:00 a.m., coffee and a light breakfast were served to conclude the concert.

TV report by the Spanish channel 3cat: https://www.3cat.cat/3cat/el-concert-de-la-son-un-projecte-que-estudia-fer-servir-la-musica-per-dormir-millor/video/6291131/