SAM TOPLEY

Noisy Pompoms

Noisy Pompoms is an electronic musical instrument building project. Through workshops (face-to-face or online) or a DIY kit (to make at home), participants are guided to make their own pompom musical instrument - a handmade synth played by squeezing pompoms!

The project combines DIY electronics and textile handcrafts with music making. Touching the two pompoms causes the instrument to make sound and the tighter they are squeezed, the higher the pitch of the sound. The Noisy Pompom musical instruments are monophonic, single oscillator instruments. They produce a square wave and changing the pressure on the pompoms sounds a glissando. 

The project explores a craft-focused approach to electronic musical instrument building. A key aim of the Noisy Pompoms project is to create a positive and empowering experience though making and playing. Placing DIY textile crafts at the forefront of an electronic instrument building project reframes the activity, utilising other strengths and skillsets to create novel tools for music making. The Noisy Pompoms project utilises craft as a socio-political tool to engage new audiences in experimental music making, bringing people together to make, play and connect.

Read more about this project in Sam's PhD thesis.

Sam regularly runs Noisy Pompoms workshops, in both face-to-face and online settings. Workshops run with adults and children (aged 6+) alike. Please follow Sam on social media to find out about upcoming events, or send an email to discuss booking a workshop.

Noisy Pompoms DIY Kits are available to purchase online from Sam's Etsy shop. Two versions of the kit are available - one which focuses on crafting the pompom interface and one where you can solder the circuit board too.