Scrap Arts Music is a

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

-based,

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

company headquartered in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada, founded by Canadian artists, Gregory Kozak and Justine Murdy, in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, in July 1998. Scrap Arts Music creates original instruments and musical compositions; produces original sound and video recordings; and creates choreographed athletic performances for theatres, festivals, schools, orchestras, and special events. Scrap Arts Music (aka ScrapArtsMusic) is also the name of the company’s touring percussion

quintet A quintet is a group containing five members. It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single ...

. Scrap Arts Music performs internationally, playing original compositions by Gregory Kozak on invented

instruments Instrument may refer to: Science and technology * Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft * Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific lab ...

made from industrial scraps.

History

In 1998, composer and percussionist Gregory Kozak and designer Justine Murdy co-founded Scrap Arts Music in Vancouver Canada. Kozak wanted to build his own “orchestra of invented instruments” and Murdy thought they could use salvaged and recycled materials from their home town. Many folk instruments are handmade from local materials; this is reported to have inspired them. During the late 90s, there was a

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

tower boom in Vancouver. Because of this, large amounts of construction byproduct and

marine salvage Marine salvage is the process of recovering a ship and its cargo after a shipwreck or other maritime casualty. Salvage may encompass towing, re-floating a vessel, or effecting repairs to a ship. Today, protecting the coastal environment from ...

were being discarded in landfills. Kozak collected scraps from fabrication shops and

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

sites and created a collection of musical instruments from these scraps. Each instrument is original, mobile, and tuneable, and claimed to be distinct to the west coast of Canada. Scrap Arts Music makes their instruments by

upcycling Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products perceived to be of greater quality, such as artistic value or environmental value ...

industrial scraps and

welding Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Welding is distinct from lower ...

them into

sculptural Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

instruments. Materials used include spun

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

, steel railings, submarine parts, artillery shells, old accordions, and marine exhaust hose. More recently, old street lamp shades and pulp mill parts have been incorporated into new instruments. Kozak learned the skills of welding and metal fabrication in order to create instruments. He has now built over 200 instruments from West Coast scraps that are both sculptural and mobile. Kozak composes original music to be played on these instruments by a quintet of percussionist/multi-instrumentalists. Athletic choreography is an integral feature of live performances. Scrap Arts Music gives expression to the energy and excitement of percussion-based music. Scrap Arts Music was in residency at the

Banff Centre Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

for three months in 2001 and debuted in the United States later that year, at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. In 2002, they released the album, ''Phon'', with nine original tracks. Also in 2002, Scrap Arts Music was nominated for a West Coast Music Award in the category of Best Live Performance. They have played for international audiences for two decades. Scrap Arts Music performs a variety of events, including concerts, educational shows,

corporate A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and re ...

events, and holiday events. In 2016, Scrap Arts Music relocated their studio from Vancouver to

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

. Scrap Arts Music's percussion-based performances have been compared to

Blue Man Group Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987. It was purchased in July 2017 by the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil. Blue Man Group is known for its stage productions, which incorporate many kinds of music and art, bot ...

STOMP Stomp may refer to: *Stomp (strike), a downwards kick using the heel Music and dance * ''Stomp'' (album), by Big D and the Kids Table, 2013 *Stomp (jazz), a type of rhythmic jazz tune popular in the 1920s *Stomp (theatrical show), a percussive ph ...

, Partch Ensemble, Kodo Drummers of Japan, and

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

. Scrap Arts Music is currently represented by Rhythm of the Arts out of New York. Scrap Arts Music performed at the

2010 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony The closing ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics took place on February 28, 2010, beginning at 5:30 pm PST (01:30 UTC, March 1) at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was the first Olympic Closing Ceremony held in a ...

, as well as the first Medals Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics, February 2010. They are now touring their production of Children of Metropolis.

Founders

Gregory Kozak

Gregory Kozak is the Artistic Director of Scrap Arts Music. Before Scrap Arts Music, Gregory co-founded and performed in S•W•A•R•M (Symphonic Work Assembly of Rhythm and Movement) from 1995–1998. Kozak composes music, creates invented instruments, and choreographs movement. He is an ensemble

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

and a concert soloist. He has a background in jazz and world music. The five-member touring ensemble, Scrap Arts Music, plays Kozak’s 145-plus invented instruments and his original repertoire at international festivals and theatres.

Justine Murdy

Justine Murdy is Co-Artistic Director and co-founder of Scrap Arts Music. Murdy is involved in project conceptualization, instrument design,

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

stage direction In theatre, blocking is the precise staging of actors to facilitate the performance of a play, ballet, film or opera. Historically, the expectations of staging/blocking have changed substantially over time in Western theater. Prior to the movemen ...

, music critique, and future projects.

Themes

Scrap Arts Music has an

eco-friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that clai ...

message. They take industrial scraps and create instruments; and then create musical performances. Scrap Arts Music’s style is culturally referenced. Scrap Arts Music’s performances are

family-friendly A family-friendly product or service is one that is considered to be suitable for all members of an average family. Family-friendly restaurants are ones that provide service to families that have young children. Frequently, family-friendly produc ...

and not age-specific. The company is also committed to providing community outreach activities. Gregory Kozak has led workshops on sound, drums, and instruments for various organizations.

Discography

''Phon'' (2003) - Scrap Arts Music’s first album, with nine original tracks.

Videography

ReVision (2011) - ReVision features the art of

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

artists such as Ross Palmer Beecher, Marita Dingus, and Scrap Arts Music who create music,

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

, street, and mixed media

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

using re-purposed, found, or salvaged materials. The medium used by these artists has an

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

message about

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

and

waste Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste prod ...

issues. ReVision is a consideration of the issues recycled artists face in trying to get their messages out in a traditional art world.

References

External links

*{{official, http://scrapartsmusic.com/ Performing arts companies 1998 establishments in British Columbia