Sticks and Tones – Xylophone Ragtime Duo

Christina Hopgood and Charles MartinDevotees of movie songs from the 30s and 40s, novelty marimba music of the 70s and Weird Al Yankovic, Christina Hopgood and Charles Martin are busily creating Australia's underground ragtime xylophone scene with their duo - "Sticks and Tones".

In fact, their recent performance at Christina's "Honours Ragcital" at the Australian National University's School of Music caused such an uproar that she was asked to leave the university (with a degree).

Their quest has led them throughout Australia and around the world with recent performances in the USA at the University of Delaware's "Ragtime Xylophone Institute" and at their very own ragtime mini-festival in Piteå, Northern Sweden.

"Sticks and Tones" are online at http://www.sticksandtones.net

Christina Hopgoodcutiefulchristina.com

Christina Hopgood is from Canberra. She sometimes makes things with her bare hands, such as cakes, clothing and percussion music.

A devotee of movie songs from the 30s and 40s, novelty marimba music of the 70s and Weird Al Yankovic, Christina is busily creating Australia's "Underground Ragtime Xylophone Scene".

Her recent "Honours Ragcital" at the Australian National University's School of Music caused such an uproar that she was asked to leave the university (with a degree).

In the future, Christina plans to hone her superhero skills as well as playing some fun ragtime music with the Rad Percussion Christina Project.

Charles Martincharlesmartin.com.au

Charles Martin is a specialist in percussion, computer music and interactive media from Canberra. His music explores formal structures from computing and logic situated in the context of percussive gesture and timbre. He links percussion with electroacoustic music and other media through new interactive technologies. His

works, described as “a thing of rare beauty" in The West Australian, have been featured throughout Australia, in Sweden and the USA.

In 2010, Charles was a co-founder of Ensemble Evolution, an international percussion group dedicated to exploring the future of percussion through composition, education and technology.

In his spare time, Charles traverses hidden worlds with his cross-artform group, Last Man to Die, re-writing history to their own future-past specifications. In the spirit of hacker culture, he endeavours to “release early, release often", prototyping his works through rapid performance and revision.