Launceston will come alive to the sound of Singers of a very different kind this weekend.
The city’s Free For All concert will feature Tasmanian musician, Rose Turtle Ertler, who has taken a unique approach to the event, influenced by fond childhood memories of her family’s sewing machine.
“When I was young we spent a lot of time on the old family Singer sewing machine,” Ertler said.
“We made lots of ridiculous clothes on the sewing machine, so maybe using a sewing machine in a musical performance is inspired by that — that sound that I remember hearing on the old Singer.
“I’m always challenging myself to broaden the definition of what music is. When I was invited to take part in Free For All, I was thinking of people who might not necessarily be in the music world but who, through their work or a hobby, do something that makes an interesting sound.
“I have two friends who sew and thought of the sounds a sewing machine makes. You can get all sorts of sounds out of a sewing machine, from little clinks and whirrs to the sound of it reversing and everything in between.
“If you put that in the performance context then it is a musical instrument as much as an organ is.”
Free For All is held each Sunday from 4pm at Sawtooth ARI in Lindsay Street, and involves participants creating improvised music using instruments they’ve never played before.
No musical experience is necessary, and all instruments are supplied.
The expanded format is running until mid-October, and will see introductory performances delivered by local artists at each Sunday Free For All session from 4pm before the community music making begins.
