File:TEDxWaterloo - Ben Grossman - Improvisational Experimental Music

Description
Ben Grossman is a busy musician: improviser, studio musician, composer, noisemaker and audio provocateur. He works in many fields, having played on over 80 CDs, soundtracks for film and television, sound design for theatre, installations, work designed for radio transmission, and live performances spanning early medieval music to experimental electronica. Ben's tools of choice are electronics, percussion, and, especially, the hurdy gurdy (vielle à roue), a contemporary electro-acoustic string instrument with roots in the European middle ages. Through extended techniques, live-looping and processing, Ben seeks to use it as a physical interface into improvised sound creation, spontaneous composition and the exploration of acoustics, form and extended aesthetics.

In 1997 Ben studied Turkish music in Istanbul and has done vielle workshops and lessons with Valentin Clastrier,Matthias Loibner, Maxou Heintzen and Simon Wascher as well as working on Deep Listening and improvisation with Anne Bourne. With an abiding interest in pushing the limits of his instruments and pushing the boundaries of whatever venue or medium in which he works, Ben's only solo CD, Macrophone was released in 2007 and features a unique two disc form for simultaneous, aleatoric playback.

--- TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxWaterloo, where x=independently organized TED event. At our TEDxWaterloo event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.