Heather Wastie

Born in the Black Country, Heather Wastie is an innovative musician, wordsmith and animateur. She specialises in Soundbeam, an ultrasonic device which converts movement into sound, including workshops and performances with disabled adults and children. She has been commissioned by The Soundbeam Project and Elektrodome to compose Soundbeam pieces, two for mainstream schoolchildren and one for disabled adults, and has visited Portugal twice to give Soundbeam workshops and a performance. In 2007 she concluded a four-year residency as Soundbeam Artist at Mayfield Special School, Birmingham, funded by Creative Partnerships. Other commissions include music for Walsall's Day in the Dome, Lichfield Mysteries (as Music Director and Composer-in-Residence), and education projects with Birmingham Royal Ballet. In 2002 she created the soundtrack for Down the Plughole, an animated film by young people with a learning disability. During 2003/4 she was Consultant Artist for aliss and in 2004/5 was Lead Artist for Solihull's Creativity Project involving 14 primary schools. Her 2007 Sound Futures Junkbeam project, with sound designer Simon McCorry, linked Soundbeam with junk materials. As a performer, Heather has toured in Russia, appeared in a concert for Prague Television and recorded for BBC1 and BBC Radio 2. Her published poetry includes 2 small illustrated collections. In 2001 she received a Creative Ambition Award from West Midlands Arts and in 2005 was awarded a BEAF Legacy Bursary. She used this to develop her multi-media work with Soundbeam, and has gone on to compose, perform and record original pieces combining poetry, photography and song with electronic and found sounds, conjured from the air she breathes.