Adam Elfers is a sound artist & educator living in Dayton, Ohio. His unique approach to introducing children to music through the making and playing of their very own recycled-instruments has been met with colorful enthusiasm and excitement. Through his series entitled Recycled Instruments & Group Music, he has helped 1,000s of kids across the United States begin their musical exploration with passion and purpose. He has performed and taught within a variety of settings including public schools, art galleries, churches, prisons, drug rehabilitation programs, cultural festivals, regional symposiums, and national performing arenas. He has been featured alongside artists as diverse as national rock groups, Disturbed and Godsmack, as well as conducting a series of workshops and programs alongside jazz drumming legend, Matt Wilson. Adam has three full length albums available through stores and is working on his debut solo release. Within the context of his own music he views himself as an “archaeologist of sound” and “collage-artist of cultural narratives.” He is currently working on a form of soundscape music combining aspects of biological, technological, and cultural sources to create a global dialogue through sound. He sees the highest function of his music as “creating story-lenses which might shift our perception and facilitate a re-attunement to the natural harmonies of the earth.” Adam views music, not as separate from, but rather as integral to life saying…”to think of all the creativity, dynamism, and playfulness of the universe, and to know that we are notes, phrases, ourselves songs in the overarching music of the spheres. It really is a miracle and by some benevolent grace it seems that when we dance and sing and clap our hands we, in a deeper way, participate in the mystery & majesty of our own being. Through the music and dance of our own bodies we come into deeper contact with the music, the dance, of the Universe, happening through us, all the time.”

Adam is the co-founder and co-director of Gift for the People and The Peoples’ Music which aim to inspire compassion through performance, play, and co-creation within the arts. For more information about these organizations and initiatives visit http://giftforthepeople.org/