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 2 small illustrated collections, Until I Saw Your Foot and Poems of the Head in Dynamic Relation to F M Alexander. 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 and is also looking forward to the publication of her third illustrated poetry collection.

Curriculum Vitae

• Singer and player of piano, keyboards, recorders and early wind instruments
• Composer, songwriter performing and recording own material, solo and with other artists
• Soundbeam specialist (ultrasonic sensors converting movement into sound) including innovative performances & links with Portugal: performance & training workshop, Municipal Theatre, Guarda, October 2002; training & creative workshops for Coimbra, Capital of Culture 2003
• Published, prize-winning & slam poet, including Until I Saw Your Foot – poetry & tales from behind the music stand, pub Nov ’97, Poems of the Head in Dynamic Relation to F M Alexander, pub Feb ’07, and performances
• Director Mind’s Eye
• Early music specialist including recordings for BBC Radio 2 and BBC1, Russian Tour (1991), performances for HM Queen (1994), recording of renaissance dance tape
• Actor/musician with Play On Music Theatre Company: Fortune’s Wheel and Love, Lust & Loyalty 1998/9 Singer and recorder player with English Serenata including CD recording and concerts for Prince of Wales (1995) and Prague TV (Prague 1996) and appearances with John Nettles (1996, 1999)
• Award recipient West Midlands Arts Creative Ambition Award to further work as composer 2001; BEAF Legacy Bursary for CPD 2005; ACE Grants for the Arts Award for Soundbeam research & development 2009 supported by Elektrodome, Working Parts (Black Country Arts and Disability Network) and Walsall MBC (see www.mappingme.org.uk)
• Animateur Examples of projects listed below

PROJECTS WITH ADULTS

• Sound It Out Community Music (Birmingham)
• Artistic Director, Musical Connections, for disabled people and isolated people, 1996-2002
• Training tutor: Partnerships course for carers 1999; Music Skills for disabled people 2001; Soundbeam2 2004
• Sandwell Social Services: Soundbeam workshops for adults with disabilities since 1998, including major 6-week project in 6 centres culminating in performances & DVD: Six Kinds of Friendship (commissioned by Elektrodome) 2007/8
• Strike a Chord: Play It by Ear with Focus music project with sight impaired adults in Harborne, Birmingham 2002/3
• 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, performances every 3 years 1994-2006
• Walsall Community Arts: Composer/MD, Walsall Wakes, performed in Walsall and at the Dome 2000

PROJECTS WITH CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE

• 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
• Fox Hollies Special School: Soundbeam residency, Summer 2001, composition of The Manipulation of Mario Net
• 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, Sefton Park Junior School, Bristol 2001; Elektrodome Seasons and Cycles, Yr 4, Leighswood School, Aldridge 2002; Seasons & Cycles 2 Yrs 5/6 Hillfields School, Fishponds 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 Birmingham: Craftspace sensory environment projects, Beaufort School & Wilson Stuart School 2003; Soundbeam and Space, Orchard School; Soundbeam residency, Mayfield School 2003-7
• Creative Partnerships Black Country: Creative Friend plus projects at Caldmore School, Walsall 2003/4
• Solihull Creativity Project: Year-long project in 14 Solihull schools: Lead Artist 2004/5
• Sound Futures, Birmingham: Junkbeam project with young disabled children from Brays & Beaufort Schools using junk materials, Soundbeam and other new technology 2007
• Leighswood School: Changing Spaces project with early years children from 11 centres across Walsall 2008
• Foursight Theatre: Sound Artist for Corner Shop project in Primary Schools 2008/2010
• Mayfield School, Birmingham: Healthy Eating project with post-16 pupils with disabilities using Soundbeam 2009
• Sound It Out: Lead Artist for Banded About project 2010

MUSIC/REMINISCENCE WITH OLDER PEOPLE

• Murray Hall Community Trust (Tipton): Sole reminiscence worker and editor of book Any Road Up 1997/8
• The Moving Finger: Editor, The Bit Between the Lanes, Lyng History Project (West Bromwich) 1999
• Walsall Community Arts: Reminiscence, poetry, songwriting, Soundbeam for Talking Magazine, Walsall Society for the Blind residency with Play On Music Theatre 1999
• Woodloes House, Warwick: Music workshops & performances, 2000 & 2001 (including Soundbeam)
• Alzheimer’s Society: Music workshops for ex-carers, 2004

Advisory work West Midlands Arts (1986-2001)

Qualifications BA Hons Maths/Music IIi (Birmingham University) 1977, ALCM Piano