Making. Learning. Performing. Together.
Lotos Lab makes new music, instruments, and experiences from very old evidence
In all three activities, we combine source interpretation with real-world practical expertise to build a sense of belonging across place and time.
We also nurture communities to share knowledge and resources, invigorating musical lineages lost and living.
Instruments
We pride ourselves in providing beautifully handmade instruments that respect archaeological evidence and satisfy professional musicians. To support our customers, whatever their approach, we offer a fortnightly Zoom. Since 2019, we have hosted over 100 Aulos Support Group meetings, helping players with reeds, how to practice, ancient music theory, and finding their unique voices on instruments that led musical culture thousands of years ago.
Learning
Lotos Lab fosters a culture of testing, evaluation, and research. We maintain open source data sets to help everyone get smarter harvesting raw materials, making reeds, reconstructing instruments, and getting them to play beautifully and reliably. We conduct practical experiments that rouse the music and literature of ancient civilizations from their long silence, collaborating with those who think differently.
Performances
We give workshops and performances to share knowledge, enrapture audiences, and connect across civilizations. What we do is new music based on ancient evidence. Is calling it ancient music misleading? We want to avoid a schism between those devoted to reconstruction, and those who have no interest in being historical. We believe that the energy generated by respectful engagement between the two benefits all.
Community building for hidden lineages
Lotos Lab also supports the vitality of digital resources dedicated to lineages of cultural significance: epic musical craft, little known but worth discovering, relevant to the revival of ancient doublepipes: