Jean-Francois Charles

On my August 2008 post entitled A Free Tutorial on Spectral Sound Processing Using Max/MSP and Jitter , Alex asked: " I was wondering if you also put "Melody to Harmony" patch on line ". Good news, the patch is online! It is called 6-melody-to-harmony and free to download on this page: Jean-François Charles' Max MSP Jitter patches (link updated 01/12/2010) . A multiple freeze With this patch, you can freeze a note, then add other notes, thus creating a frozen chord. There is no limit on the number of notes that you can freeze: it doesn't take more resources to freeze 100 notes than 2. By freezing successive notes of a melody, you transform it into harmony, in real time. This patch uses the Max MSP FFT capabilities, while spectral data is stored and computed within Jitter matrices. Max 4 version of the patch? Antonio commented " pity some patches are for version 5 only " ; that's right, some of the most recent patches are only compatible ...

Listen to 13/60 on last.fm One type of clarinet multiphonic is called "split tones". In the duet Play Along 3 , I use the most common root pitch for split tones on the Bb clarinet: the lowest note of the instrument, a written E. The first time I played this particular multiphonic in concert was during the première of Javier Torres Maldonado 's great piece Hemisferios Artificiales . We created this work for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, and violoncello in February 2002 in Strasbourg. Ivan Fedele was the composition professor, and Armand Angster was leading the rehearsals. First, I had a hard time figuring out how to play this multiphonic sound, but in the end, the concert was great. One breath If you use this study in your teaching, it may be fun to play it in one breath. It may also be fun to watch this video of the fascinating trumpeter Raphael Mendez . For the "one breath" section, watch from 3:03 on. Your dedicated clarinet study As Pla...

I just finished a provisional version of Lapalu , a new work for viola and live electronics. In this composition, I used the musical formula technique. Lapalu musical formula Here is the manuscript of the Lapalu formula. You can read the four limbs of the formula, each inhabited by a particular musical character. I composed part of this formula after recording Garth Knox . I could then incorporate elements of his musical language. For instance, he ended the improvisation session with circular bowing, that he seemed to enjoy quite a lot: this is why I use this nice sound quality in the last bar. First projection of the formula On the next picture, you can see the how the Lapalu formula unfolds over the first section of the piece. In formula composition, musical material is not developed , but rather spread, unfolded . Each limb of the formula contaminates its character to the corresponding section. Each section contains one or more projection of the whole formula. Here, the first ...

This study could be a first introduction to microtones for clarinet students. It's a playful short etude dedicated to Lionel Liebe, a former clarinet student of mine who took part to 60/60 . Have fun with the quarter tones (and no, you don't need a quarter tone clarinet to play this tune)! Listen to 12/60 on last.fm Performers are Petra Stump and Heinz-Peter Linshalm. They recorded several albums. Online, you can get Pierluigi Billone: 1+1=1 More clarinet quarter tones For advanced students, a great clarinet solo with quarter tones is If by Pascal Dusapin . I was lucky to learn it with Armand Angster at Conservatoire de Strasbourg . I highly recommend to meet and learn from him!

2020 update: if you are looking for the Max for Live device, check out the post Max for Live: Extreme Time Stretching with Spectral Stretch . Using a phase vocoder is one way of stretching the length of a sound without transposing it. The following video is related to the free pdf article A Tutorial for Spectral Sound Processing with Max/MSP and Jitter , published in the Computer Music Journal, Fall 2008. It illustrates extreme time stretching and audio freeze. Your own Max/MSP/Jitter Phase Vocoder If you are using the Max/MSP/Jitter development environment to design audio & video interactive applications, make your own phase vocoder. In this series of Max/MSP/Jitter tutorial patches for sound processing in spectral domain (link updated 01/12/2010) , patches number 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8 are the most directly related to this video. Of course, the MSP Tutorial 25 and Tutorial 26 will be will get you started with the FFT inside Max/MSP, in case you are new to the spectral doma...

The Graduate Music Forum at Harvard organizes a yearly Graduate Student Conference. Last Spring, the conference was entitled music & the urban . This year, the committee choose another exciting topic: Un-Music . Last week, composers Bert Van Herck, Hillary Zipper, and myself met with organizers Michael Heller and Ryan Banagale to discuss the participation of composers to the conference. We are all very eager to host a great musical conference during which we want to facilitate a natural flow between the fields of musicology, ethnomusicology, theory and composition. Are you a composer? Here is the official announcement, as it was recently published on the American Composers Forum : Call for Works: Un-Music, Harvard Graduate Music Forum Conference, March 7, 2009 In light of the pluralism, stylistic diversity, and incorporation of new sounds in contemporary performance, we invite you to re-examine our definition of music: what is music and what is "un-music," and wher...

In May 2008, I announced the première of my series of three Bb clarinet studies . I'm happy to share with you the recording of this live performance, featuring two amazing musicians: Petra Stump and Heinz-Peter Linshalm . Petra and Heinz-Peter during their concert in Vienna (Austria) on June 13th, 2008. The first of these pedagogical miniatures is a very simple melody to play with just the clarinet mouthpiece , to whistle, and to sing and play at the same time. Here is the score for two clarinetists: the teacher and the student. Listen to 11/60 on last.fm Singing and playing at the same time is less common on the clarinet than for instance on the trombone or the flute. I strongly recommend to listen to composer and clarinetist Evan Zyporin's "Tsmindao Ghmerto" (look for the title on the page, you should be able to download a mp3 version). It's a written solo for bass clarinet, to be sung and played at the same time. A great piece in a recital. Beginning of...