PROCESS

As I explained in the context chapter, when I started my research in Autumn 2021, I was focusing more on the expressive possibilities of electronic modulation applied to acoustic sounds, and I started investigating how composers would use them and to what end. I felt that I wasn’t armed for this research and that I wanted to shift slightly the focus to developing the tools that would allow me to express the specific ‘feelings’ I attached to hybrid sounds and play with those ‘semantic tools’. I therefore decided to explore the modulation of acoustic sounds by focusing mainly on the instrument I knew the best, the saxophone that I had been playing for over 25 years… this would be my best bet at finding out what these hybrid sounds meant to me, and how I could create and use them.

I then tried out various ways to manipulate my acoustic sound and recordings of other acoustic instruments that I was borrowing from friends and colleagues at ArtEZ (violin, voice, piano and percussions). I quickly realised that it was fundamental for me to stay respectful and true to the sound source. I wanted to create new, hybrid sounds but I needed to make sure they were clearly derived from the acoustic source and that they would translate, and if possible expand, the technical variations the original instrument allows. A good counter-example is the way I was using guitar pedals on the saxophone for many years before. The blend I was making was that when playing live, my acoustic sound was mixing with the effected sound, but the effected sound didn’t keep neither the subtle inflections I was making, nor the ‘airy’ character of my acoustic sound on the saxophone.

My lessons with Rainer Quade were sources of inspiration (like the Bernstein lectures, Ligeti, Penderecki), of examples of film scores whether they were using hybrid sounds or not… We also discussed a lot the short films and scenes I scored during my studies, my try-outs and finally my tracks over the last few months. His experienced look at it often made me realize I was drowning myself in my technical adventures and losing track of what the scene was calling for. I feel like I am still at a discovery stage of this instrument and need to learn how to handle it with the same care as I handle my saxophone. Andries van Rossem helped me discover so much music that I probably know what to listen to for the next 10 years, from Ligeti (again) to Haas... This made me much more sensitive to the instruments tonal specificities and inspired how I wanted to modulate them. The focus on the woodwind instruments when I was preparing my very first composition for woodwind quintet (the score is here) was enlightening. My original idea was to use electronics in this composition, but I realised it was too soon for me, that I wanted to first delve deeper into those instruments I knew a bit too superficially before integrating the extra dimension of electronics. this process was very instructive as it made clear that in order to respect the sound sources characteristics, I should focus on manipulating sounds I mastered (such as my saxophone) rather than start manipulating various sources from the start, at least for the research part of my work. I ended up writing over 10 minutes music for woodwind quintet and I am super excited to have it recorded in autumn by the ‘Breathe Ensemble’. Andries and I also talked a lot about acoustic and hybrid music ‘history’ and the compositional process of hybrid music, from Stockhausen to the musique concrète, which helped me realise performance with tapes were always very frustrating to me. I came to the conclusion that, without discarding the music written and performed this way, it was fundamentally opposed to my personal conception of composing hybrid music. I don’t stand for putting a musician on stage with a backing track, whether it is filled of glitches and noises or a piano accompaniment of a violin concerto. I want the electronics to be as lively as possible, interacting with the musician, and at the moment I restrict myself to sonic reactions to what the acoustic instrument plays (no prerecorded samples or synth sounds that I can input from the computer). I believe this way I don’t betray my conception of live performance where communion and interaction is central.

My exchanges with Philipp Rütgers and Rik Cornelissen helped me find where I wanted to put my focus and Rik especially helped me think differently, and understand a bit more what an artistic research is. Thinking as a researcher was very difficult for me at first but today I believe I managed to profit from this different state of mind. I am used to produce music.Find an idea, compose music, record an album and perform it for an audience. I love it. But taking more time than ever, allowing myself to get lost and thinking I want to present something that can be relevant not only to my audience but to the musical world in general pushed me further. When I look back to the fact that 3 years ago I didn’t know what midi was exactly and had a very basic use of FXs, which were only ok because I was playing saxophone well enough, I am proud of what I accomplished.

Beside the workshops and study groups with my fellow Master students for which I wrote reflection forms which can be downloaded down this page, the project weeks really gave me opportunities to try out my template with musicians, such as during the Connecting the dots project week this year where I was composing, then manipulating live the sound of 4 classically trained musicians to a ‘home made’ video we edited together. Or when I met Steef, student in ‘the house of Performance’ department during ‘Grased’ week.

I chose my external teachers as ‘specialists’ who helped me solve my technical issues (with Ableton or production in general) and stimulated my creativity with inspiring discoveries, or helped me go further with the acoustic sound manipulation of the saxophone itself, giving me new perspectives on extended techniques such as multiphonics for example. Working with Audrey Lauro was very inspiring to me in my research of extension of the sonic possibilities of the saxophone. I discovered many more possibilities of my instrument which I then tried to expand even further with electronics and am looking forward to dedicating much more time to practice these saxophone techniques in the coming years. Stijn Cools introduced me to a better understanding of FXs (types, structures, principles) and Ableton Live, and Nicolas Lefèvre helped me get a coherent and convincing sound and our discussions were very inspirational on an artistic level as well. Finally, meeting Benjamin Van Esser right at the end of this cycle was like a nice final touch. I have a lot of respect for his music and his technical abilities and I believe his music and Max for Live tools will accompany me for many years.

My collaboration with fellow Master student Alex Pielsticker was also very positive. Making a few sessions of improvisation with him and working on one film scene score together helped me realise how fun and interactive playing in duet as a ‘computer artist’ can be. Improvising is a major practice for me since I started performing, and sharing these improvisations with him really were a big step forward. Like meeting Benjamin Van Esser, collaborating with Alex these last months and recording ‘live’ my composition ‘Le mot n’est pas la chose’ with Andy Dhondt made me realise I was much better equipped than before and ready to perform (or compose) in a hybrid context at my computer, and that being on stage to manipulate somebody else’s sound is defintely something I want to do more often in the future.

here are my reflection forms about the collective programs and my external teachers assesments.