Seb Tomzcak

Being a certificate IV student in music technology, I occupy a pretty lowly rung at University. Above me are consecutive years of degree students and after that, as if 3 years were not enough, there are the honours students.

The last entry into this blog documented what I considered a mild freak out for us poor C4 students. It was a group forum based very loosely around the idea of “what is music technology”. Simultaneously the replies came back that it was everything and nothing that you thought it was, it was hard to teach, rah rah rah, oh my god, what am I doing here?

On the back of this, Seb Tomscak, an honours student, was able to sooth some of my fears when he presented himself at the next seesion. “After much soul searching and introspection, I have come to realise the common element which links my work together. It’s taking things outside of context and putting it into music, usually through music technology” (Tomzcak 2006). At least they were words to that effect.

I like it because it’s a practical way to work with, and thus study, music technology. It has a goal: To make music from things previously unmusical. From here it begins. Surely, there is a due amount of ‘process’ involved in achieving the result but overall, the process is goal orientated. Gommog’s approach with Evochord comes off rather differently. He was more like, “I’m a wicked mathematician, which allows me to conjure up fantastic processes – lets see what happens!” Don’t get me wrong, experimentation is and must be an integral part of music technology. Maybe it’s just my slant on things. I like to be heading towards something. When I spoke to Gommog informally a little later, he said that he could pretty much do anything, but he was just waiting for an idea. It pained me to comprehend such potential sitting in the dark wondering what to do with himself.

So what does Seb do? The Milk crate project is probably the most obvious idea to start with. You take people and make them produce sounds continuously for 24 hours with non musical instruments. The aim is to leave after 24 hours with completed sound works/songs that you have produced during the time frame.

The idea is to harness creativity by putting constraints (space, time, materials, efficiency) in place with the added bonus of sleep deprivation. Thus new creative outlets are explored (ibid) and my thirst for something to do with all this technology is satiated.

For more info on milkcrate, visit:

http://www.milkcrate.com.au

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Tomzcak, Sebastian. “Forum Discussion”, EMU space, University of Adelaide

27/04/06