Thollem’s listening workshops are open to anyone interested in deepening their experience with sound. The workshops equally beneficial and enlightening to both musicians and those who have never played an instrument. The workshop helps develop listening skills to wake us up to the infinite variety of sounds around us as well as to deepen one’s relationship with music as a listener as well as a creator. Thollem utilizes an analog synthesizer to identify the basic building blocks of sound as well as the complexities of texture and qualities of sound (timbre). He will also touch upon the physics of sound, acoustical properties, the workings of the listening apparatus, evolution of hearing, the hearing of other creatures with or without ears. Participants will explore the elements that define differences of sound and our perception of them.
About the Instructor
Thollem grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, the son of a dedicated piano teacher. He began teaching private and group piano and theory lessons when he was 13 years old. Over the years, as a teacher, Thollem has worked with musicians and non-musicians alike in a wide variety of approaches and techniques through private lessons and large ensembles, in music conservatories, high school concert bands, with developmentally disabled adults and children, the incarcerated, the elderly, youth symphonies and chamber ensembles. He has been traveling perpetually for years working within communities throughout North America and Europe, collaborating with a wide array of musicians, dancers, filmmakers, writers, poets, and painters.