Les Chemins de Traverse
Les Chemins de Traverse ont pour mission le partage de projets artistiques novateurs toujours en lien étroit avec le public : par des concerts ou spectacles hors des sentiers battus, par la transmission du savoir lors de stages, par la recherche fondamentale et des publications.
Leur atelier basé à Neuchâtel-Peseux (NE/CH) est un véritable laboratoire d'impertinence musicale et de la pensée de l'artisan musicien.
Ils tracent les Chemins de Traverse
Croisements
Directions
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Chemin de création
Academie La Côte 2023 J-1
Arrivée à Nyon (VD/CH) à la veille du début de l'Académie La Côte. Nous sommes (presque!) prêts pour l'accueil des étudiants.
Sortie de chantier Masterclass "Oser dépasser ses blocages musicaux - Été"
Atelier des Carrels
Oser dépasser ses blocages musicaux - Été 2023
Atelier des Carrels
Harpejji solo 6 - using the Bela as an FX box?
(This news is part of the Harpejji solo project)
When I play the harpejji, I usually run the bass side through an equalizer to get a more balanced sound over the whole instrument. Then I've got some reverb and, from time to time, a couple of effects. I've been doing it through my usual gig rig, with a laptop and a rack with a big sound interface, a reverb unit, a mixer... It works very well, but it makes moving the whole thing quite tiresome.
I've got this bela board sleeping on a shelf... wouldn't it be cool if I could use it as a very portable DIY FX box?
However, after some exploration, it seems pyo doesn't work any more on the bela, and I don't want to develop a whole new processing chain with a new tool. I guess I'll have to find another way to do it...
Fête de l'atelier 2023
Atelier des Carrels
Harpejji solo 5 - New harpejji case
(This news is part of the Harpejji solo project)
When I bought my harpejji back in 2013, the only available case was a very sturdy, but also very heavy, flight case. That doesn't encourage carrying the instrument around. So I decided to purchase a soft case with backpack strap so that it gets easier to take it with me for a rehearsal or a gig. As it happens, the Mono Vertigo Keyboard 61 Case fits the instrument perfectly!
Le Dragon Ivre vu par les enfants
Après un passage à l'Atelier des Carrels où ils ont notamment entendu Le Dragon Ivre (extrait de Dragonfly), des élèves de 3H (environ 7 ans) ont dessiné et écrit ce qu'ils ont entendu. Quel cadeau de bénéficier de leur regard neuf sur notre musique!
Harpejji solo 4 - Easy harpejji sight-reading
(This news is part of the Harpejji solo project)
Finding easy sheet music for practicing sight-reading on the harpejji is not as easy a task as one would expect. Most pedagogic material for beginners on the keyboard rely on techniques quite specific to the keyboard. Fingers resting on C-D-E-F-G in both hands, use of the pedal... all things that don't transfer very well on the harpejji and make these easy pieces much less easy.
Lately I stumbled upon this set of pieces by Franck Gasseling that I find very nice. Most of them transpose relatively easily to the harpejji; the first ones are very easy but there is a steady progression to less easy ones; and most importantly, they sound more like music than like exercises. Note that there are also recordings of most of them, so if you need to hear them first that's also possible. Thank you Franck Gasseling for this nice work (although I'm pretty sure you didn't really target the harpejji when writing these pieces!)
Want more? Along the years, I've also been toying with
- pedagogical pieces from the baroque era like Michel Corette's Les amusements du Parnasse. The subtitle alone should convince you to try them: "Méthode courte et facile pour apprendre à toucher le Clavecin avec les plus jolis airs à la mode."
- Alec Rowley's Selected progressive Studies
- The Five miniatures preludes & fugues by the same Alec Rowley are a little bit more challenging but sound very nice too.
Harpejji solo 3 - Discussion about the harpejji
(This news is part of the Harpejji solo project)
Yesterday was a Coulisse at Les Chemins de Traverse. I made a quick presentation about the Harpejji solo project and proposed a few considerations about why a harpejji is neither a guitar nor a keyboard and why it matters when writing music for - or improvising on - the harpejji. This yielded interesting discussions about the instruments that will certainly help me in my research during the upcoming months.
Les coulisses des Chemins de Traverse #31
Atelier des Carrels