Musicians performing on stage with electronic instruments, illuminated by red and blue lights, in a venue with a large ornate wooden background.

Booking From Scratch

The group is generally available for festivals, concert tours, workshops, gallery exhibits and performances, at negotiable fees.

Please drop us a message if you have any questions or wish to discuss bookings.

Workshops
Exhibition
Current repertoire
A percussion ensemble performing on stage with various metallic and visual instruments, with audience members visible in the foreground.

venue/STAGING REQUIREMENTS

Venue

First priority is good natural or enhanced acoustics.
Microphone enhancement is needed in most circumstances.

Staging

Preferred staging is in full or 2/3 round at the same level (or lower) as the audience. This is intrinsic to the performing style of the group. Audience can be positioned in full, 3/4 or 2/3 round, or along two sides.
However, the group can adapt to proscenium if this is the only option available.

Lighting

The group uses simple dramatic overhead lighting, off grid or on high-stand rigging, 15-20 lights (details supplied on request).

Sound

Amplification enhancement is desirable in most venues. Around 10 microphones are required (details on request).

Storage and Assembly Space

Storage and assembly space is required. Rehearsal space is also needed, ideally the actual performance venue.

Rehearsal

The group prefers to be on location at least one day prior to performance for setup and rehearsal, as instruments and lighting can take up to 3-4 hours to assemble. If this is not possible a minimum of 8 hours is required for assembly, set up and relaxation prior to performance.

Touring

There is approximately 300 kg of equipment depending on repertoire (around 10 cubic metres).


Large room with polished wooden floor, high ceiling with white beams, and windows with red curtains. There are two people working in the center near various musical instruments and equipment, including large pipes and smaller percussion instruments. Chairs are stacked against the walls, and tables and additional chairs are around the room.
Stage setup with 'metamorphosis' instruments, a person in a red sweater standing center, and two other people working on the percussion and mallet instruments.
Music stage with various percussion instruments, drums, and cymbals, illuminated with blue and pink lighting, set up in a hall with dark wood flooring and curtains on the right side.

Current Repertoire

In September 2024, From Scratch celebrated fifty years of tapping the pulse. With much pleasure, we bring you a programme of works energised by our 50th anniversary celebration, bridging past and present.

The first half of the programme features live musical accompaniment to a series of three curated short films, made by invited filmmakers. These live soundtracks are performed on a variety of invented and assembled instruments.

In the second half of the programme we reprise a lesser-known early work, Songs for Unsung Heroes, composed for the group by Philip Dadson (1989), reprised and transcribed by Shane Currey (2025).

Songs for Unsung Heroes is a journey of sorts, modular in form, organised in a continuous series of eight contrasting sections, each featuring different combinations of rhythmic structure and instrumentation. The piece pays tribute to the lesser-known and unsung heroes of past and present, who have tamed their tigers and helped raise the consciousness of humanity in their pursuit of objective truth.

As an old Chinese saying has it, “Once on the tiger’s back, there’s no getting off”. Songs for Unsung Heroes pays particular homage to one such hero, Abdullah Dougan, and to all others known and unknown who have tamed and ridden their own tigers.

“Wake up, wake up, the heroes cry, your choice - to live or die! What is the goal, mind, heart and soul? Remember to remember, the seekers of freedom, from suffering, from tyranny!”

Page from a book with the title 'Introduction' at the top, containing text discussing rhythm and sound, and a small black-and-white photograph in the bottom right corner.

Workshops

From Scratch is experienced in giving in-depth workshops which deal with music making, performance and instrument-making procedures characteristic to the group. Phil Dadson is co-author of the From Scratch Rhythm Workbook, a hands-on manual of rhythm games and exercises designed to develop individual and group rhythm skills. The exercises are aimed at all kinds of performers and develop from a body-based approach - simple foot stepping, clapping and vocals - to sophisticated work with instruments and extended movement.