Ciska Vriezenga

Ciska Vriezenga is a Sonic Interaction Designer and Developer and works part-time at the HKU School of Music and Technology as researcher and lecturer.

Vriezenga has a Bachelor degree in Music Education with honours at the conservatory of music ArtEZ, as well as a Bachelor degree in Music Technology with honours and a European Master of Arts in Design for Digital Cultures at the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht. Currently she is following the master program “Game and Media Technology” at University Utrecht.These qualifications combined with her experience in the areas of art, education and software development allow her to bridge the gap between the areas of technology and art/education.

In design projects Vriezenga’s focus lies on user-driven solutions in which (innovative) technology fulfills a supporting role; as a means to an end and not an end in itself. She researches in which way technology can enable musical learning and improve music skills in a playful context.

Vriezenga was involved in the creation of themes for Kazoo, a new Dutch music teaching method for elementary schools in which the SMART board is utilised to enable music lessons. Vriezenga designed and developed an interactive format and three web-app for the family concerts of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Furthermore Vriezenga designed and developed the MODi, a modular sensor instrument, for SoundLAB - The Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ. SoundLAB organises workshops (7+) with a new collection of experimental electronic/hybrid/akoustic instruments with a focus on sound. These projects also served as applied research-projects for the research programme Music Design.

Vriezenga has a thorough experience in music education for toddlers and young children, who form her favourite critical audience. Due to their open-minded and outspoken response and their high level of playfulness, Vriezenga finds this age group very inspiring for multidisciplinary art and design projects.

In research Vriezenga focuses on music/game/media technology and interaction. She is fascinated by hybrid design in which technology is merged with old-fashioned non-digital interactions, combining the best of both worlds. This fascination started in 2010 at the Sonic Art Research Centre (Queens University Belfast - SARC) while working on a project to design and develop a hybrid mbira using prosthesis as design strategy (see publication “The Prosthetic Mbira - Prosthesis as Design Strategy”).