Classes are available on the UC Berkeley campus that provide lab-based opportunities for basic and advanced hands-on studies related to interactive instrument building. Some classes require programming experience, but some do not.
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Courses/Data/987.html http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Courses/Data/206.html http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/courses/i198-uip
Kimiko Ryokai now has a solid practical lab, and students often build musical instrument controllers as class projects: http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/courses/i262
Wendy Ju runs another well supported lab space on campus for design: http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/caldesignlab/
