Biography

Heather Wastie is an innovative composer, Soundbeam specialist, singer, songwriter, keyboard player, recorder player, poet and animateur, based in the Midlands of England. She regularly gives performances of her own material, from melancholy ballads and humorous songs, to poetry and voice/movement soundscapes using Soundbeam and sampled voices.

Heather's work with Soundbeam, an ultrasonic device which converts movement into sound, centres around workshops and performances involving people with disabilities. She has also worked extensively with mainstream primary children, and has been commissioned to write pieces for various settings. The Selfish Note (2001) and Seasons & Cycles (2002), were commissioned for KS2 children by The Soundbeam Project and Elektrodome respectively.

Six Kinds of Friendship, a large-scale piece for adults with a learning disability, was commissioned by Elektrodome, funded by Sandwell MBC, premiered in Tipton in February 2008 and performed in the opening celebrations of The Public, West Bromwich. This project grew from Soundbeam work for Sandwell Social Services, ongoing since 1998. In 2002 Heather gave Soundbeam workshops and a performance with Tip-Tone Dance Group (from Coneygre Day Centre, Tipton) for the "Be Different" festival in Guarda, Portugal. She returned to Portugal to give creative and training workshops in 2003. In the same year she was Composer-in-Residence, Soundbeam and the Arts for Hertfordshire Music Service, working in SEN schools.

Heather has delivered several sensory environment projects in special schools for Creative Partnerships and in 2007 completed a four-year residency as Soundbeam Artist at Mayfield School, Birmingham. Other work includes Dancing in the Light, The Manipulation of Mario Net and Look (a piece for multi-tracked voice) for Fox Hollies Special School and a series of special needs projects called Junkbeam, linking Soundbeam with junk percussion. She has also used Soundbeam with older mental health patients in Warwick and for Walsall Society for the Blind, and delivered training for Sound It Out Community Music for which she has also worked on several community projects.

In 2005 Heather created Breaking Silence, a Soundbeam spoken-word cut-up with still photography, for TalkShow, and she performed the piece in Birmingham alongside Dutch sound-poet Jaap Blonk. Other commissions include music for Walsall's Day in the Dome and Lichfield Mysteries (she was their Music Director and Composer-in-Residence from 1993 to 2006). She has delivered education projects for Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Cheltenham International Festival of Music. In May 2002 she completed the soundtrack for Down the Plughole, an animated film by young people with a learning disability, in a project run collaboratively by Birmingham City Council, Vivid, The Drum and Birmingham Film & TV Festival.

During 2003/4 she was Consultant Artist for aliss (Artists and Learning Information and Support Service) and Creative Friend for Creative Partnerships Black Country. In 2004/5 she was Lead Artist for Solihull's Creativity Project involving 14 primary schools. Recent projects include two in Walsall: Sorted, exploring libraries and museums through Soundbeam and poetry with disabled adults, and Changing Spaces, for staff and early years children.

Heather has toured in Russia, performed for Prague Television and recorded for BBC1 and Radio2. She is a published and prize-winning poet, including 3 small illustrated collections. She has produced 2 books out of reminiscence work in the Black Country, Any Road Up and The Bit Between the Lanes. In 2001 she received a Creative Ambition Award from West Midlands Arts and in 2005 was awarded a BEAF (Birmingham Education Arts Forum) Legacy Bursary to develop her multi-media work with Soundbeam. She is Director of Mind's Eye.

In 2009 she has received a grant from Arts Council England to further develop her Soundbeam work.

RECENT PERFORMANCES & SUCCESSES - see www.WastiesSpace.co.uk

Curriculum Vitae

• Published, prize-winning performance poet, including Until I Saw Your Foot 1997, Poems of the Head in Dynamic Relation to F M Alexander 2007, The Page- Turner’s Dilemma, 2010
• Founder member of Brewers’ Troupe, performance poets researching & creating theatrical shows about the culture & history of British pubs. Funded in 2010 by Worcestershire County Council, Elmley Foundation and Wyre Forest District Council. www.brewerstroupe.co.uk
• Composer, songwriter performing and recording own material, solo and with other artists
• Soundbeam specialist (ultrasonic sensors converting movement into sound) and Sound artist: innovative performances and recordings, facilitation and training
• Singer and player of piano, keyboards, recorders and early wind instruments: recordings for BBC, Russian Tour (1991), performances for HM Queen (1994), recording of renaissance dance music with Scaramella; English Serenata: CD, performances for Prince of Wales (1995) & Prague TV (Prague 1996), appearances with John Nettles (1996, 1999)
• Actor/musician with Play On Music Theatre Company 1998/9
• Award recipient West Midlands Arts Creative Ambition Award 2001; BEAF Legacy Bursary 2005; ACE Grants for the Arts Award for Soundbeam research & development 2009 supported by Elektrodome, Working Parts (Black Country Arts and Disability Network), Walsall MBC (see www.mappingme.org.uk)
• Facilitator See below for examples of projects
• Director Mind’s Eye

RECENT PERFORMANCES & SUCCESSES - see www.WastiesSpace.co.uk

PERFORMING ARTS FACILITATION - ADULTS

• Sound It Out Community Music, Birmingham Artistic Director, Musical Connections 1996-2002; Training tutor - Partnerships course for carers 1999; Music Skills for disabled people 2001; Soundbeam2 2004; Infusion Ensemble 2009/10
• Sandwell Social Services: Soundbeam workshops for adults with disabilities 1998- 2008, including major 6-week project in 6 centres culminating in performances & DVD: Six Kinds of Friendship (commissioned by Elektrodome) 2007/8
• Mapping Me: In partnership with Walsall Council Creative Development Team, funded by Arts Council England, Elektrodome, Working Parts. Research & development project with learning disabled adults from Heantun Housing Association, Wolverhampton 2009 See www.mappingme.org.uk for ongoing developments
• Making Music West Midlands: Facilitator for Music in Hospices project, Solihull 2009

WORK AS COMPOSER IN THE COMMUNITY

• Lichfield Mysteries: Music Director/Composer-in-Residence, large-scale outdoor performances every 3 years 1994-2006
• Walsall Community Arts: Composer/MD, Walsall Wakes, performed at the Dome 2000

• Birmingham Royal Ballet: Education projects 1995 & 1998. Composition and recording of vocal/dance piece, Look, for Fox Hollies School 1996
• Cheltenham International Festival of Music: schools workshops & performances 1996-2001
• Shropshire County Council: Maths Year 2000 schools residency with Alchemy; Creativity Hour Composition project in 5 Stoke-on-Trent schools 2001
• Creative projects in Birmingham: Fox Hollies Special School; Creative Partnership projects at Beaufort School, Wilston Stuart School 2003 (both with Craftspace), Orchard School, Mayfield School (incl residency 2003-7)
• B’ham City Council/Vivid/The Drum/Bham Film & TV Festival: Composer for Massive Message animated film project working with teenagers with learning disabilities 2002
• Soundbeam commissions: The Soundbeam Project The Selfish Note, 2001; Elektrodome Seasons and Cycles, 2002; Seasons & Cycles 2, 2006
• Hertfordshire Music Service: Composer-in-Residence, Soundbeam and the Arts, SEN schools 2003
• aliss (Artists & Learning Information & Support Service): Consultant Artist 2003/4
• Creative Partnerships Black Country: Creative Friend plus Caldmore School, Walsall 2003/4; West Park Primary Maths Project 2011
• Solihull Creativity Project: Year-long project in 14 Solihull schools: Lead Artist 2004/5
• Sound Futures, Birmingham: Brays & Beaufort Schools 2007
• Leighswood School: Changing Spaces project, early years children across Walsall 2008
• Foursight Theatre: Sound Artist for Corner Shop project in Primary Schools 2008/ 2010
• Sound It Out: Lead Artist for Banded About project 2010
• West Park Primary: Musician / Sound artist for Maths project 2010/11
• Black Country Touring/Multistory: Sound artist for Allan Ahlberg project 2011

• Books produced: Any Road Up 1997/8 for Murray Hall Community Trust (Tipton); The Bit Between the Lanes, Lyng History Project (West Bromwich), The Moving Finger 1999
• Woodloes House, Warwick: Music workshops 2000/1 (including Soundbeam)
• Alzheimer’s Society: Music workshops for ex-carers, 2004; Poetry readings 2010/11