Luminous Music
Resources
Who are Luminous Music?
Located in Glasgow, Luminous Music design educational projects for schools,
adults and community groups. Workshops are centred around hands-on experiences
with a unique collection of World percussion instruments. Luminous Music are
well known for their imaginative, inclusive workshops using the instruments of
the Indonesian Gamelan Orchestra. Educational projects cover the following
areas:
We develop music projects for contemporary dance, theatre, film and produce a
wide variety of music and recordings. On this website there are descriptions of
projects and workshops, as well as music samples to give you an idea of the
music works and recordings in our catalogue.
Luminous Music Workshops
Percussion instruments have become the focus of Luminous Music. We
offer experiences that are out of the ordinary, that encourage pupils to create
new music as well as learn old-growth ideas from world cultures and traditions.
Luminous workshops include access to traditional instruments and music styles
of many cultures throughout the world. We have created a whole new vista of
music using compelling percussion sounds; examples can be heard on the music
samples within.
PREFIVE - EARLY PRIMARY
For the very young our STORYTELLING MUSIC WORKSHOPS such as The River,
Forgets-To-Twinkle and Return To Dragon Island have special magic dust
sprinkled over them that helps bring out the best in budding young musicians.
PRIMARY - SECONDARY - ADULT
CROSS CULTURAL WORKSHOPS for older children and adults get to grips with the techniques of making ensemble music on ethnic percussion instruments. These include the ever popular Hands On Drumming workshops, Introduction To The Indonesian Gamelan, Samba From The Beginning, Introduction to World Music, and others.
World Music Culture
At the same time as being the traditional and highly complex instruments of
traditional cultures, the 'easy access' doorway of Percussion and Gamelan
instruments allows participants unique experiences in music. The musician is
always on a major voyage of discovery, where the music we make is both an
experience in Motion and Emotion, ie, rhythm and feeling. Music both moves with
our actions and stirs the emotions at the same time, prompting pupils toward an
integration of feeling and thinking. Percussion based workshops offer novice musicians fairly quick access to simple
yet powerful musical experiences, as well as to the benefits of ensemble
performance.
Have a look at our online catalogue to find workshops that apply these ideas in
practical experiences for pupils at a variety of age levels. Creative
experiences with percussion instruments are exhilarating for young persons.
Contact with the source instruments of world culture provides a valuable
understanding of our own place in the world.
Dance and Drumming
Music for Contemporary Dance
Luminous Music provide live drumming for a wide range of dance activities that
include:
Introductory dance programmes for young persons
Contemporary dance at professional/college level
Special-dance programmes in Secondary education
Music support for adult dance classes working at the 50+ level
The link between music and dance has been long honored through most cultures,
from social dancing and folkloric traditions to serious art choreography and
music composition. Music and dance are connected in special ways, each
complimenting and completing the other. Most simply, dance ‘moves’ us, and so does music.
The use of high quality live music in the dance environment brings dancers and
musicians closer to one another for future creative efforts. With dancers there is a keen awareness of the physical nature of music. From the day they first start training they are physically immersed in music,
learning not only how to interpret music, but discovering how to select music
that makes sense, both to the body and to the creative process. Live music
imprints that process like no other experience.
Drumming and Dance Link
Many discoveries are made as the rhythms of movements and sounds intersect. This
puts the focus on music as well as dance.
At the root level, dance and music are essentially rhythmic expressions. They
are both rhythmic designs in time and space, one in movement, the other in
sound. These harmonic relationships exist across the art forms, aiding pupils
in discovering correlations between pattern, form and nature. This
interconnectedness, at its most fundamental level is of prime concern in the
design and implementation of our educational programmes and workshops in music
and dance.
We are often told that drums and percussion not only create highly energising
music, but provide a unique learning atmosphere. To describe this further . . .
. . . . drums and percussion provide subtle, repeating rhythms and melodic
structures that help pupils concentrate and work at deeper levels, allowing
space for dancers to explore links between the movements they make, their own
breath, and the music itself.