Thingamajigs

Edward Schocker is a composer and performer who creates music with made/found materials and alternate tuning systems. He holds an M.A. in composition from Mills College, where he studied with Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran, and independently with Lou Harrison. At Mills, Edward founded The Music For People & Thingamajigs Festival, an annual event in The Bay Area devoted to unusual instruments and tunings. In 1999 and 2000 Edward was artist in residence at the now defunct European Dance Development Center in Düsseldorf, Germany where he took part in and conducted workshops in instrument building, and composer/choreographer collaborations. Many of his dance-theater collaborations at this time toured throughout Europe and were performed by Jim Fulkerson and members of Amsterdam-based The Barton Workshop. In 2004 Edward composed music for an UNESCO sponsored work with Echo Arts –a large bicommunal project in Cyprus that helped build understanding between communities in conflict. His other collaborations in dance/theatre include multiple works with U.K. director Angus Balbernie: Mud Wings (2001), Nine Days on Dark Water (2002) and Sassantedue (2003). Edward’s artist in residence and commissions include Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Stanford Lively Arts, the St. Ignatius Choir directed in San Francisco, Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra in San Jose, and Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo. In 2006 he was awarded The NEA/Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Fellowship to research Japanese musical instruments and tuning systems, and in 2010 received a 6-month residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts. Recently he was an artist in residence at the Paul Dresher Ensemble’s ARC program. As a performer, he has presented work at festivals around the world, including Internationales Klangkunstfest in Berlin, Soundwave ((6)) in San Francisco and Culture Station Seoul 284 in South Korea. Currently, Edward is an ensemble member of the Thingamajigs Performance Group, creating works in a group process with Dylan Bolles, Suki O’Kane and Keith Evans. The group recently developed and performed a new work with Pauline Oliveros for the Berkeley Art Museum.