On hacker/maker blogs such as Hackaday or Adafruit, new DIY musical instruments built with common components (Arduinos, simple amplifiers, LEDs, etc.) pop up almost daily. It is well established that in a workshop setting building musical instruments is a wonderful teaching/exploration tool for learning the principles of electronics, but can these instruments in turn be used to teach music? I do believe that these homemade instruments can make excellent sandboxes that could be used as part of a music curriculum.

With that said, I want to create a conducted musical ensemble that scavenges, hacks, builds, composes, rehearses and performs on upcycled/hacked instruments.

Questions I wish to discuss are as follows:
What if the ‘collegiate music institutions’ supported the groundswell enthusiasm for sound/musical development present in the hacker/maker community?

How do you apply the concepts of ‘Talk, Make, Teach, and Play’ to the conventional conducted ensemble rubric of the conservatory?

What does the music school have to learn from DH and its best practices for using hands-on technology in the classroom environment?