Making Music with Repurposed Objects and Handmade Electronics

Erin Demastes is an experimental composer, performer, and instrument maker. She uses everyday, household objects and hacked electronics for her installations and performances and subverts their use and perception with play and experimentation. In addition to her interest in physical materials, Erin works with instruction and interaction design in her scores, performances, and installations by balancing structured composition and predetermined actions with improvisation and exploration. Erin received an M.F.A. in Experimental Sound Practices and Integrated Media from California Institute of the Arts, a B.M. in jazz studies and piano performance from Loyola University New Orleans, and is pursuing a doctorate in experimental music and digital media at Louisiana State University where she works as an instructor, web developer, and concert technician. Previously, she worked as an audio repair technician, artist, and educator for five years in Los Angeles and as a jazz and classical pianist, composer, and arranger for ten years in the New Orleans area.