Sounds from a Listening Body. Three days with Dumama.

Gugulethu Duma is a South African musician, composer, and sonic poet from the Eastern Cape, based in Berlin. She works with voice, uHadi (Xhosa bow), live loops, and electronics. She studied under legendary bow master Madosini. Her duo album with kechou — Buffering Juju — brought future-folk to stages across Europe.

This workshop explores voice as instrument, archive, and social technology. How the body carries memory, rhythm, landscape, grief, joy, and futurity — and how all of that shapes sound.

Day 1 — Body as Archive: Voice, Memory, and Sonic Embodiment
South African vocal techniques, breath-based vocality, call-and-response, listening walks, sonic mapping, group chant construction.

Day 2 — Improvisation, Choreography, and Future Folk Composition
Movement-as-score, vocal layering, collective composition, speculative folk practice. What happens when ancestral vocal forms meet experimental electronics?

Day 3 — Electronic Voice, Sonic Transformation, and Performance
Live vocal processing, looping, layering, effects, ambient composition. The workshop ends with collaborative performance compositions.

Open to singers, performers, dancers, composers, sound artists, writers, researchers — and anyone interested in voice, embodiment, and experimental practice. No formal musical training required.

3 days · Jul 10–12, 2026 · 4 hours/day · ACUD Kunsthaus, Berlin-Mitte

The post Sounds from a Listening Body — Vocal Workshop with Dumama (Jul 10–12) appeared first on Berlin School of Sound.

“The best part was understanding how everything connects — it completely changed how I think about sound.” — Workshop participant, Berlin School of Sound

“I came in knowing nothing. By day two I was building patches I didn’t think were possible.” — Workshop participant, Berlin School of Sound

Four days. One studio. Your first real modular patch.

Early Bird: €549 · Regular: €649 · 14:00–18:00 daily · Max 10 participants · English · Berlin

You don’t need to know what a patch cable is. You don’t need to own a single module. You need four days, a willingness to experiment, and curiosity about what happens when you stop programming music and start building it with your hands.

This is a hands-on intensive in Stéphane Lefrançois’s private Berlin studio — a fully equipped professional space where you work directly with Eurorack systems in a group of maximum 10 people. No lecture halls. No YouTube tutorials. Just you, the modules, and someone who’s been doing this for years.

The Program

Day 1 — Introduction to Modular Synthesis Modular fundamentals. Patch cables and signal routing. Oscillators, filters, envelope generators. Understanding voltage control. Your first ambient and drone compositions. Introduction to VCV Rack — setting up, downloading modules, basics of patching.

Day 2 — Sound Design & Exploration Deep dive into oscillator behaviour, filter types and envelope shaping. Building expressive patches from scratch. Learning to trust your ears over your eyes. Drum patching, FM synthesis, self-evolving patches.

Day 3 — Complex Patching & Generative Systems Cross-modulation and feedback loops. Sequencers and randomisation for generative patches. Creating evolving textures and self-playing systems that surprise even you.

Day 4 — Modular in Performance Modular in a live context. Building sets, managing complexity, improvisation strategies. Final session: each participant presents a live patch to the group.

What’s included

→ 16 hours of hands-on instruction across 4 days
→ Full access to Stéphane’s professional Eurorack system
→ Maximum 10 participants — guaranteed hands-on time every session
→ Private studio environment — not a classroom
→ Certificate of completion

Your instructor

Stéphane Lefrançois is a drummer, recording engineer, performing artist, DJ and teacher based in Berlin. He has run studios in London, Ibiza and Berlin, and founded Secret Music — a label releasing electronic music with soul. At Berlin School of Sound he leads the modular synthesis curriculum, bringing years of professional studio and live performance experience directly to students.

He doesn’t teach from a textbook. He teaches from the studio.

Who is this for?

Complete beginners are welcome — no prior knowledge of modular synthesis required. If you already patch, this workshop will push you into more complex territory. What matters is curiosity and a willingness to experiment.

What people say

“The best part was understanding how everything connects — it completely changed how I think about sound.” — Workshop participant, Berlin School of Sound

“I came in knowing nothing. By day two I was building patches I didn’t think were possible.” — Workshop participant, Berlin School of Sound

Details

📅 Mon 14 – Thu 17 July 2026 · 14:00–18:00 daily (16 hours total)
📍 Stéphane’s private studio, Berlin — full address shared after booking
👥 Max 10 participants
🌍 English
🎓 All levels welcome — complete beginners to intermediate

Early Bird: €549 · Regular: €649

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