KM Music Conservatory in Chennai, founded by AR Rahman, teams up with London-based online teaching platform Music Hackspace and California-based software company Cycling ’74 to deliver free music programming classes in May 2021. As part of the partnership, Cycling ’74 will provide free 1-year licenses of its flagship programme Max to KM students. 

India is home to one of the most dynamic music scene in the world, but still relatively cut off from the US and the UK. As the pandemic rages in India, most students are continuing to learn online. With this new course, we aim to help music technology students engage with new technology with a long term perspective of exchange and training.

AR Rahman says: “There is a huge appetite for music technology in India, but there is a scarcity of tools and teaching professionals. Musicians in India will be able to join in a global community that gives them the opportunity to develop life-long skills. “

Public registrations to the course are open on a first-come first-served basis (register here). The course will be offered to students for free and will be taught by Max Certified Trainer Phelan Kane who has years of experience teaching music technologies. 

Cycling ’74 offers a free trial of the software (download here), making this accessible to anyone who is curious about music programming. There is no obligation to buy the software to participate in the workshop.

JB Thiebaut, CEO of Music Hackspace, adds “Our mission is to empower everyone to learn creative technologies and we are proud to enable this partnership on our platform, where visitors will find more free courses on demand to continue their learning journey.”

Max is an ubiquitous software that is taught in over 1,500 institutions around the world. Max is also integrated with leading production software Ableton Live. 

Getting started with Max Workshops 

The series will have 4 sessions of 2 hours each. Participants will learn how to get started with interactive audio and MIDI, and discover the possibilities of the Max environment.  They will learn how to manipulate audio, MIDI, virtual instruments, and program their own interactive canvas, and will learn from guided examples and live interactions with teachers and other participants. 

Session overviews:

• Session 1, 5th May – Understand the Max environment
• Session 2 , 12th May – Connect building blocks together and work with data
• Session 3, 19th May – Master the user interface
• Session 4 , 26th May– Work with your MIDI instruments

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About KM Music Conservatory

KM Music Conservatory (KMMC for short) is the first institution of its kind in India. A higher education institution established in 2008 by the A.R. Rahman Foundation with A.R. Rahman serving as Principal and Fathima Rafiq as Executive Director. Situated in brand new, state-of-the-art facilities at the heart of Chennai’s film and music industry, we offer a range of part-time and full-time courses in Hindustani and Western classical music and music technology. Faculty are drawn from around the world, with specialisms in musical performance, musical theory and analysis, music history and music technology in order to meet the highest standards of international education.

About Music Hackspace 

Music Hackspace’s mission is to develop the largest online learning platform  for music technologies. It was founded in 2011 by Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut in London, as a collective of artists and engineers. Starting with weekly meetups and seminars, Music Hackspace now curates over 20 live and online workshops every month on music programming, instrument design, and DIY electronics, for a growing number of artists and hobbyists. 

About Cycling ’74

Cycling ’74 creates software for the specialized needs of artists, educators, and researchers working with audio, visual media, and physical computing. Our visual programming tool Max serves as the creative engine behind thousands of innovative projects. Its iPad app Mira allows the user to expand beyond the Max environment for increased flexibility. 

For more information: 

www.musichackspace.org/learnmax 

www.kmmc.in 

Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut; Founder & CEO @ Music Hackspace

jb@stagingmhs.local

Lilli Wessling Hart 

pr@cycling74.com

14th January 2021

For immediate release

Voting is now open to the public for the MIDI Innovation Awards

Everyone is invited to attend the livestream awards show, held on January 21 during NAMM’s “Believe in Music” week 

London, England – Music Hackspace, the MIDI Association, and NAMM have now closed the entries to the first MIDI Innovation Awards. The difficult process of selecting 10 finalists from 78 amazing entries – including hardware, software, and even installations based on MIDI – is now complete. 

The final competition will be live-streamed on January 21, 2021 from 12 – 2 PM PST during NAMM’s “Believe in Music” week. During the ceremony, the finalists will present their inventions to the all-star jury composed of Dr. Kate Stone, Craig Anderton, John Kao, Helen Leigh, Yuri Suzuki, and Shawn Wasabi. The event will also feature exclusive performances from artists SK Shlomo, Tim Exile, Shawn Wasabi, Dan Tepfer, and special guests. 

During the awards ceremony, the winner of the Popular Vote will be announced, and the top 3 entries will win prizes worth over $20,000. 

According to event coordinator Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut of Music Hackspace, “We were taken aback by the level of creativity, imagination, and innovation in the entries – and believe the livestream viewers will be as surprised and delighted as we were.”

Discover the finalists, and cast your vote, by clicking here. 

Watch the teaser of the event and set a reminder for the livestream on YouTube. 

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About Music Hackspace 

The Music Hackspace’s mission is to develop the largest online learning platform for music technologies. It was founded in 2011 by Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut in London, as a collective of artists and engineers. Starting with weekly meet-ups and seminars, the Music Hackspace now curates over 20 workshops every month on music programming, instrument design, and DIY electronics, for a growing number of artists and hobbyists. Follow the Music Hackspace on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  

About MIDI Association 

The MIDI Association is the non-profit community for both the companies who develop new MIDI specifications and products, and the people that create music and art with MIDI. The MIDI.org website is the central repository of information about anything related to MIDI technology, from classic legacy gear to the next- gen MIDI protocols coming soon.

About NAMM

The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) is the not-for-profit association with a mission to strengthen the $17 billion music products industry. NAMM is comprised of approximately 10,300 members located in 104 countries and regions. NAMM events and members fund The NAMM Foundation‘s efforts to promote the pleasures and benefits of music, and advance active participation in music making across the lifespan. For more information about NAMM, please visit www.namm.org, call 800.767.NAMM (6266) or follow the organization on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

For more information: 

www.musichackspace.org/mia2021

Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut, Founder & CEO, Music Hackspace: jb@stagingmhs.local

Athan Billias, COO, MIDI Association, info@midi.org 

Chalise Zolezzi, NAMM, publicrelations@namm.org