Malcolm Cecil and the History of TONTO THE FOLLOWING STORY WAS PUBLISHED AS PART OF THE SUMMER / FALL 2017 FEATURE "INSIDE THE NATIONAL MUSIC CENTRE."  Malcolm Cecil’s interest in electronics began at age nine, when he became the youngest member of a ham radio club in England. His mother was an accomplished[...] Read more

Featured Article Jesse Locke Issue 128

Wow & Flutter make breathing room The phrase “wow and flutter” typically refers to flawed analog recordings—ones with imperfections that cause the pitch to oscillate, either slowly or quickly. When Toronto-based wind players Bea Labikova, Kayla Milmine, and Sarah Peebles decided to form an improvising trio[...] Read more

Sound Bite Sara Constant Issue 131

Erdem Helvacioglu FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY   When you’re caught up in the thick of it, all those cute, clichéd little epithets about turning life’s lemons into lemonade, spinning grave fuck-ups into rapturous inspiration, and the like, hardly seem to hold any[...] Read more

Featured Article Nick Storring Issue 115

Bug Incision: Calgary’s Cross-Pollination Buzz The world of free improvisation is like a parallel universe, a global underground community of nonidiomatic soundmakers, recording with each other in every imaginable permutation, connected via a proliferation of text- and link-heavy Web 1.0 sites, DIY venues, and CD-R labels, with a[...] Read more

Sound Bite Daniel Glassman Issue 131

What's Inside Musicworks 141? The Winter 2021/22 issue explores the creative ideas of seven artists who are engaged in beautiful, daring musical acts of innovation, celebration, and resistance . . . artists that audiences and listeners like YOU will be discovering in 2022.   Flute enthusiasts, please note that[...] Read more

Featured Article Issue 141

Joseph Shabason’s patient unravelling When we listen to music, are we meant to enter the hearts and minds of those who’ve created it? Or is listening more of an interior experience—of turning inwards and creating space to experience our own feelings? For Joseph Shabason, the answer to both questions is yes.[...] Read more

Sound Bite Brennan McCracken Issue 132

Joan Tan Jing Wen’s Study of Fragile Objects #1 Singaporean composer Joan Tan Jing Wen’s Study of Fragile Objects #1 was awarded third place in the 2024 Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest.   Hit the PLAY button above to listen.    Tan Jing Wen shared notes with Musicworks about how[...] Read more

Featured Article STAFF

James O’Callaghan’s Bodies-Soundings James O’Callaghan’s Bodies-Soundings, winner of Musicworks’ 2014 Electronic Music Composition contest, is a highly suspenseful acousmatic piece in which sounds are partially diffused through tactile transducers (specialized speakers that transmit sound through any object to[...] Read more

Sound Bite Jennie Punter Issue 121

Diana Nadia Lawryshyn’s Traditions Made; Stories Told Ukrainian Canadian multidisciplinary artist Diana Nadia Lawryshyn uses technology to layer sounds just as she layers brushstrokes in her paintings. She invites listeners to slip on headphones, sit back, and let the arrangement tell a story full of captivating imagery that will be reshaped[...] Read more

Sound Notes STAFF

Kitchen Chorus over breakfast, writing in my head, i can’t hear the words land—they’re swallowed back down the chute they come from—thud of molars as they chew buttered toast which slides, with a slick suck, into the whirlpool of digestive juices—outside, rain is rivetting[...] Read more

Sonic Geography Ingrid Rose Issue 111