Meet MCT Group C 2020
It’s MCT Group C!
Joni, Lindsay, Wenbo & Stephen are the inspiringly titled MCT Group C. Hailing from Hong Kong, India, China and Wales, they have backgrounds in everything from UX Design to audio engineering, music performance and printing multi-coloured giraffes on kids t-shirts. The plan for the next couple of years is to combine their diverse set of skills and knowledge in new, interesting and (hopefully) musical ways. MCT Group C are confident that this will involve copious amounts of cool new tech and making lots of strange beepy noises.
Joni
Joni is a user experience designer, photographer and a classical flautist with a strong passion for finding solutions to wicked problems, such as finding ways to enhance the learning experience for cognitively ‘not-so-fluent’ people. She believes everyone is capable to learn and to create wonderful things that we only need to find different methods and styles that suit us. She lived in 8 countries and had background in music performance and design research.
Joining the MCT programme, she wants to explore the possibilities and limitations of how music or sound can create impact through the screens. Her research areas include HCI, Interface, User-Centred Design, Universal Design, Inclusive Design, Cognitive Psychology - Attention and Memory, and Neuro-Musicology.
Lindsay
Lindsay Charles is a Multi-Instrumentalist and an Electrical & Electronics Engineer from Hyderabad, India. Piano was his first instruments then moving into drums, guitars, bass and as curiosity grew, he studied the workings and crafting of instruments, their circuitry, technology and what not, compelling him to build his own MIDI Controller and other hardware attachments to the guitars. From an artistic perspective, Lindsay composes background scores and soundscapes for documentaries and short films as a freelancer. He loves playing bass in particularly funk, rock and jazz bands. He’s looking forward to acquire knowledge and practical experience to build his career through the MCT Program. He also loves long mountain hikes. ;)
Wenbo
Wenbo Yi is a classical pianist and audio engineer from China. He has studied classical music in the Conservatory since age five and has won the first prize in the national piano competition. He got his bachelor’s degree in Recording Arts and studied at the audio engineering master program in the Communication University of China.
He viscerally believes that music is an exceptional bridge among multi-cultures and sincerely hopes to be your friend.
Stephen
Stephen is a programmer and musician from Wales in the UK. He plays bass (both the guitar and the giant violin shaped one), and loves to spend evenings tucked away in his studio getting lost in a haze of swirling, synthesised dreaminess. He is a business owner, and has spent over half his life living in other peoples countries. He also loves writing stories about underwater animals for his seven year old son, and has spent several years teaching SCUBA diving in south east Asia.
The MCT programme looks like it’s going to be a gigantic playground for Stephen - there is so much of interest that he isn’t quite sure of where to start. But it will probably involve building things, exploring new ways of performing live electronic music, and absorbing all that he can about communication, learning and pedagogy, as teaching is ultimately what he wants to do with his life.
Our Group Competencies
Team Reflection and Impression from the first two weeks
It’s been a fun and intense first couple of weeks on the course. It’s also been quite different - the online only nature of this semester is taking some time to adjust to. We have found it can be difficult to connect with others over zoom - building relationships with the other students is hard, our classmates still feel like strangers. Within the team it has worked well though, it has been good to get to know each other. The style of teaching is also very new for us, and not something we have experienced before, being used to the more traditional approach of lectures and working alone. This way is much better!
One thing we have found is tiredness can be an issue - the big time differences mean that classes happen later in the evening for some of us, and if we have been working all day, to then maintain attention for class can be a challenge.
On the other hand, the online nature of the course makes it feel pretty focused and convenient. The course has been intense at times, but in a good way. There has been a lot of new things to learn, and it’s been great to have the opportunity to learn from everyone else - the diversity of the class means we have so much we can learn from each other. It’s been a really positive start to the course.