Gathering of Bronze • 2026 Fall Session

If you like fun, music, fun, science, fun, and ALSO FUN, then join us to build The Gathering of Bronze!

Let’s Make Some Awesome

As we kick off our new educational performance group, we're looking for adults who love learning, especially about science and technology. A little bit of musical experience is helpful, but we'll teach you everything you need. (Seriously, if you played a few notes in middle school or love to drum on your steering wheel, you’ll be great!)

Throughout the term, we will collaborate to create a short educational performance that combines musical vignettes with related STEM demonstrations. We’re inspired by the easy-to-understand style of Bill Nye the Science Guy and easy-to-enjoy performance of Blue Man Group, with a healthy dose of community theater can-do attitude.

We primarily use percussion instruments such as handbells, handchimes, tuned tubes (Boomwhackers), cajon, five-gallon buckets, and anything we want to build. Why? Because we can teach you (YES YOU) how to play a real song in less than three minutes — and from there it’s all about learning and having fun together. With our success, we’ll be ready to launch children’s programs in future seasons!

Schedule

We gather on Monday nights, with everyone helping set up at 6:45 PM — we're a team! — practice starts at 7 PM and wraps by 9 PM.

• Sep 14: Week 1
• Sep 21: Week 2
• Sep 28: Week 3
• Oct 05: Week 4
• Oct 12: Fall Break (no rehearsal)
• Oct 19: Week 5
• Oct 26: Week 6
• Nov 02: Week 7
• Nov 09: Week 8
• Nov 16: Week 9
• Nov 23: Thanksgiving Break (no rehearsal)
• Nov 30: Week 10
• Dec 07: Week 11
• Dec 14: Week 12
• Final performances are collaboratively scheduled with participants, generally in the final two weeks of the term.

Scholarships and Tuition Vouchers

Thanks to our generous donors who believe Sound Curiosity's educational programs should be open to everyone, we provide no-questions scholarships to any student.

To receive a scholarship, enter one of the following codes in the voucher field during registration:

Why pay any tuition at all? Sound Curiosity is able to offer no-questions scholarships to everyone because some participants do pay at least a portion of their tuition. This helps our donor dollars go farther, serving you and all our other students.

Please select the scholarship level that feels right to you — and then dive into our educational experience. Learning while making music is a team sport, and it starts right here.

Who We Are

Gathering of Bronze is an educational ensemble of the non-profit Sound Curiosity organization, based within the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. Special thanks to all our donors who have sponsored tuition for this session!

Please contact us with questions.