About the project

Compose with Sounds was originally an EU Culture prgramme-funded software development project (2011-13) initiated by the Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre at De Montfort University (UK). It involved partners in France, Germany and Norway as well as associate partners in Greece and Portugal.

The goal of the project was to lower the threshold for young composers who want to explore sound-based music and music composition, and to provide schools and individuals with an educational tool that encourages creativity, cross-cultural dialogue and the sharing of ideas and results.

The software was constructed, workshops were held at a number of schools in all participating countries and concerts presented in all six countries. The experiences were documented and brought back into the furthe rdevelopment of the software and teaching methodologies. In order to secure a link with professional communities, composers worked alongside pupils resulting in the creation of a substantial number of works that were presented in concerts across Europe forming one of the key project outcomes. These works can be found here. The links between the project partners were strengthened through the exchange of the ideas and methods that were developed and extended in the project.

The software and accompanying instructional texts and videos are linked to the pedagogical ElectroAcoustic Resource Site (EARS 2) at De Montfort University, which offers support and maintenance to all users who would like to further explore this exciting field.

The Composing with Sounds project and work that has taken place afterwards has led to a number of compositions, a double CD and publications, some stored within this site, some available on paper an online. See the EU Project Compositions page to listen to all compositions that were created in the Composing with Sounds project.

In 2013, the EU Culture ‘Interfaces’ project commenced in which second phase developments were commenced. These involved updating Compose with Sounds, adding a new Help facility, adding a visual layer whereby users can add sounds to a number of still images or to a video and, finally a ‘Live’ version, called Compose with Sounds Live was developed. This will in introduced in spring 2020.