Makoto Nomura to lead music workshops at the Hayward Gallery's Wide Open School, 11 June to 11 July 2012

Wide Open School is an unusual experiment in learning with courses devised and led by over 100 artists from 40 different countries. The School is open to everyone and begins on 11 June. Pianist and composer, Makoto Nomura, will be involved in three  of the Wide Open School’s workshops.

Makoto Nomura has pioneered new forms of collaborative composing, directly involving others – including ‘non-musicians’ – in the creation of his works. Using musical games and wordless discussions as starting points for compositions, he has involved community groups, including residents of old people’s homes, children, people with disabilities and dancers, in making improvisatory works. Western orchestral instruments, traditional Japanese instruments, the Javanese gamelan, and found objects such as stones, plastic bottles and balloons have all been brought into play. He has held recitals in public baths using hot water and buckets, played melodicas with animals (his collaborators in Music with Pets included ducks, pigs, horses, monkeys, orang-utans, lions and an ant-eater) and, with the Hokusai Manga Quartet, has used Hokusai’s drawings as a score. One of Nomura’s innovatory compositional strategies is Shogi, which he describes as ‘a kind of recipe for collaborative composition among various people with different musical backgrounds and various musical abilities. It is just like playing cards around a table.’

Music and physical movement, Tuesday 3 July, 10am

Japanese composer and musician Makoto Nomura leads a workshop exploring entertaining and enjoyable physical exercises as ways of playing musical instruments. Approximate duration: 3 hours.

Mistakes and Misunderstandings in Music, Wednesday 4 July, 10am

This workshop concentrates on how we can deviate from musical convention by making mistakes and misunderstandings and using mischief and nonsense. Participants can play Southbank Centre’s Javanese gamelan or bring their own instruments. Approximate duration: 3 hours.

Wide Open Score, Thursday 5 July, 10am

This workshop explores strange and entertaining music without using conventional musical notation. Creaky noises, energetic free rhythm on percussion, tone-deaf singing and other such peculiar forms will be explored.  Approximate duration: 3 hours.