Improvisation d'Hiver I - Synthesis in the Classroom

Published on Jan 18, 2013 RADIOKLOW·78 videos

"Improvisation of the 11th january 2013 for Little Phatty and Snow Virus played simultaneously through the Little Phatty's keyboard. Film and recording on camera by Nathan Nadal"

Improvisation d'Hiver II

Published on Jan 19, 2013

"Second Improvisation performed the 11th of January 2013, on Little Phatty and Snow Virus, played simultaneously through the Little Phatty's keyboard. Film and recording by Nathan Nadal."

Per the site guidelines, you need to be able to differentiate between the synths in any given post. The idea is you can get a feel for the synth/s featured. In this case it's not as clear what synth is producing each sound, but I thought I'd post it for the unique context. This performance is actually a lecture at a high school in France. It's great to know that students are being exposed to synthesis and the more abstract sonic soundscapes they are capable of.

Via Marc-Henri: "Winter Improvisation I and II are two pieces of music performed live for those of my students who attend the course of Philosophy and Electroacoustic music at "Lycée Edouard Herriot of Lyon". I created this course two years ago with the agreement of the Principal of Lycée Edouard Herriot and the Board of education of Lyon. It takes place among a program of education and culture in which i am absolutely free ti create and test new methods of teaching to transmit the taste for culture to youth. The course is also connected with the Museum of Fine Art of Lyon in which I will give a performance of electroacoustic music and poetry in march 2013.

The pieces of music presented here consist in two improvisations performed friday the 11th of january 2013. I wanted to introduce them to the question of improvisation because we plan for may a performance with a video, a recorded collective piece in which they will take the main part and simultaneously a live improvisation on this canvas. Thus, to give them an example of this kind of thing, I gave them two improvisations with my Little Phatty and my Snow Virus playing simultaneously, the second being controlled by the keyboard of the first one.

In the first attempt, I improvise on part of the recording of De Haute Vallée which is played by the computer, from00:20 until 13:14. My aim was to show them how you can recreate a former composition by playing improvisations on it and it is for me a kind a variation in the same kind of spirit I use in the Hadikat Raja series, except that I simply open a live music field over the root composition and melt it with this root composition instead of changing the position of former elements, erasing some of them, developing others and creating new elements in each new piece to produce a series of work in progress as I do in the Hadikat Raja Series. The Little Phatty played solo ends this first performance from 15:46 to 16:16.

In the second improvisation, the Little Phatty play together and with no recorded part, from the first second to the end.

All sounds are mine on both instruments, as usual, and I had no rehearsal before. This was the first time I used the LP and the Snow, since a long time. Thus, the performance is absolutely improvised.
Both improvisations were shot and recorded on a camera, by one of my students, Nathan Nadal who also created the titles and effects of the first film. I created the titles of the second, adding a the end a recent painting to conclude by a still image.

I hope the quality of sound is not to poor. The filming and recording of these two improvisations had not been planned and since Nathan asked me if he could shoot them I said yes because it is a track of the work we do in this course."

Lyon, the 15th of January, 08:25 am